For a presidential candidate who hasn’t pursued a sophisticated tech strategy, Donald Trump has a huge base of support online. Facebook and Twitter have helped to showcase the Republican nominee’s incessant self-promotion. But it’s on Reddit where his supporters are fully in charge.
During this crazy election season, the pro-Trump subreddit /r/The_Donald has emerged as a hub for some of the Republican candidate’s most Internet-savvy supporters. Today, those people claim the greatest Reddit reward: Trump himself will drop by tonight at 7PM Eastern for an AMA—the “ask me anything” question-and-answer session that has become the site’s signature attraction. […]
To hear denizens of /r/The_Donald tell it, Trump won’t be addressing the stereotypical crowd of supporters. They insist that the subreddit’s core constituency extends far beyond the core demographic of older white men, resentful of globalization, who form Trump’s base. In fact, these redditors say everyone misunderstands them. They consider themselves quite comfortable with the digital world, and say their ranks include—gasp!—liberals who voted for Obama. But Trump’s message has convinced them to change sides.
“We know for a fact that our community is extremely socially libertarian—and culturally as well,” said one subreddit moderator, a 30-something business consultant who goes by the handle Viking83. He asked that his real name not be used because he says he might be harassed, a reasonable concern for many who post to Reddit, much less a subreddit devoted to so divisive a candidate. That’s precisely why Trump supporters say they need /r/The_Donald. Appropriating the language of the disenfranchised, Viking83 says they need a safe space to support Trump online.
“We’ve taken a stand and said, there are thousands of other subreddits where you can hate on Donald Trump,” he says. “In our subreddit, we are like a 24/7 Trump rally.”
