Thread by @FredKSchott

So I have a confession: sometimes I go read r/the_donald (DJT subreddit) to see what's going on over there.

And what happened tonight was... strange.

Something to understand: they are usually VERY on brand. Pro-Trump, Pro-Moore, encouraging (or at least entertaining) dubious news, conspiracies, hate speech, etc.

Community self regulates this kind of content with ⬆️⬇️ votes.

It can be *really* gross.

First weird thing of the night: reddit.com/r/The_Donald/c… (warning: NWS language)

This is now my highest-upvoted comment on reddit: where I call out a disgusting, hateful Pro-Moore conspirancy theorist. On **r/the_donald**.

Is this the upside-down?

On any other day, that comment would have been down-voted into oblivion. Tonight it was the only comment NOT down-voted.

I think this means two things:

1. Yes, there were probably some other tourists like me visiting r/the_donald who down-voted because ew
2. But more importantly, the base is angry. Angry that they were dragged in to supporting a child molester.

But that wasn't even the weirdest part on my visit...

Feeling embolden, and sensing that something had changed, I decided to test my luck.

I decided to post something:

It was deleted almost immediately. Like, within a minute.

Okay, maybe not surprising... But I'd worded it specifically to NOT be anti-trump!

And If I've learned anything from visiting r/the_donald, shifting blame away from Trump is the name of the game. Mcconnell, Flynn, Pence, anyone can be put on blast to defend the Don.

But Bannon is apparently off limits? Huh?

Alright fine, mods. You wanna plan? I can play.

[reddit-enforced 10 minute cooldown period between posts, aaaaaand...]

So this one was interesting. Let me explain what happened:
1. The post was deleted within ~30 seconds
2. IT STILL SOMEHOW GOT 6 ⬆️ VOTES, MAYBE MORE
3. 6+ ⬆️ votes in 30 seconds, out of 34 views is... pretty high
4. I was immediately banned from the r/the_donald

Here's why any of this matters, and why I decided I had to share this tonight:

1. r/the_donald is a HUGE, top of the funnel piece of the DJT, Breitbart, whatever-you-want-to-call the new Republican party. It has 500,000+ members, creating dumb memes and bringing fringe theories into the mainstream

2. r/the_donald is mad right now, not at Trump (of course and obviously) but at their own leaders. All of them. McConnell, Flake, that other AL senator, and yes, Bannon.

3. r/the_donald moderators are censoring out anything negative about 1 person in particular: Bannon. Anything anti-Bannon is being deleted, anyone posting anti-Bannon is banned, IMMEDIATELY and AGGRESIVELY.

This is all impossible to witness unless you're caught in it, like I was tonight. When something is deleted, it disappears. Not notifications, no signals, nada.

Which brings us to...

4. r/the_donald -- the biggest pro-DJT community in the US -- is being specifically controlled, directed, and censored by some # of moderators.

Not to support Donald Trump... *but to support & protect BANNON*

I'll finish with a final screenshot, a message I got after I was finally banned, my reign of terror ended:

(forgive my alter-ego's writing style, just trying to blend in :)

This can't last forever. r/the_donald and the rest of the base were riled up and talked in to supporting a child molester. I believe (well, hope) it's going to become obvious how messed up that really is.

I just hope that this helps someone out there, anyone, realize that they're being controlled. That their safe zone has been corrupted. And that any hate in their heart, which I'm sure feels very real, may not have a genuine origin story.

/end

PS: This is in no way meant to be an apology or deflection of personal responsibility for anyone posting hate speech.

Just... fuck I don't know... people need to know that this is happening