That’s why they use it for any display of empathy from a non-conservative. Signalling virtue is just something you do to be part on the in-group, like wearing a cross or saying “I’ll pray for you”. You don’t actually possess virtue or care about other people, because that would be socialism.
Virtue Signalling it actually a sociological term used by academics.
That doesn’t change why they adopted it.
That’s why they use it for any display of empathy from a non-conservative. Signalling virtue is just something you do to be part on the in-group, like wearing a cross or saying “I’ll pray for you”. You don’t actually possess virtue or care about other people, because that would be socialism.