I’m not a liberal — I’m a leftist

That is what embarrassed liberals call themselves.

and I consider a Tankie to be someone who gets so wrapped up in hating the U.S. or West in general that they start defending the likes of Stalin and others who used a facade of Marx/Lenin to consolidate power and do horrible things. Like, you do not, under any circumstances, have to hand it to Stalin.

Not under any circumstances? What about ending The Holocaust and The Third Reich? There's a reason Western anticommunism is inextricable from fascism.

By usage, a "tankie" is just anyone that defends an entity that a liberal wants to attack, generally in line with the Western imperialist consensus. Hell, it was defined originally by Trots to attack a decision by Kruschev, someone whose (largely fabricated) anti-Stalin statements defined much of the Western propaganda against him, likely including much of what you're thinking of. It is very funny to see it used against Stalin. To honor the Trot tradition you should call such people (and maybe everything you don't like) Stalinists!

[AI things]

Okay bud