@artemis
The way he misused it has a strong association with the MAGA movement. They mean it in a pejorative sense akin to 'virtue signaling'. It's jarring when it comes from a well-known liberal.
I don't know if Doctorow is still active on the website formerly known as Twitter, but if he is, it's truly a brain-cooking, pickling vat of MAGA, manosphere, white nationalist depravity...
Maybe he picked it up there. No one is immune to bullshit. They just have to stew in it long enough.
There is also a haughtiness about it. Like he knows he is doing something that merits being shamed, so he is shaming the would-be scolds before they emerge, if ever they do. I'll extend him grace unless and until he doubles down or whistles another MAGA sounding tune.