How Conservative Trolls Lost Their Mojo

[Soph0571]

Even though this claim to plausible idiocy persists—complete with a bizarre effort by White House staff to replicate Trump’s spelling mistakes when they tweet on his behalf—something curious has changed among the trolls and Pepes of the world since they first took the national stage. Trump won. And the thicket of fake accounts, bots, and genuine supporters has shifted slightly in response. For one thing, there’s been a slow but definite migration toward more respectable ground. As some Pepe trolls have been banned from Twitter since the election, even the more virulent accounts have largely traded in most of their frog avatars (one of which was declared a hate symbol by the Anti-Defamation League and semi-banned from Facebook) for American flags.

While there’s still some “own the libs” energy, it feels more beleaguered than fun.
That’s why the same people who got their jollies with nihilist memes—“We have won the meme war,” alt-right activist Jack Posobiec tweeted on Election Day—are now busy, for example, calling ex-CIA director John Brennan a communist and retweeting protests of the Red Hen restaurant that evicted Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Bill Mitchell is paranoid that Twitter is deleting his “likes” and hiding posts from his followers. Where once a raucous and influential segment of the culture couldn’t stop slaying other people’s sacred cows, now they are angry that people aren’t showing enough respect. They’re paranoid and complain about having to “hide” their love of Trump. People who mocked the suffering of children profess outrage at how their entitled millionaire is being treated. Trump himself can’t stop complaining that everything is “very unfair!” This isn’t really the way trolls are supposed to sound; it’s thin-skinned and petulant.

[link:https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/07/trolls-and-the-trump-gop-are-sounding-awfully-alike.html|

Snowflakes!!!!

[DetlefK]

1. They are trying to play alpha and underdog at the same time.

"Woohoo! We won! Get over it! But we're also an opressed minority that shouldn't be criticized."

[jimlup]

2. +1

yes

[The Genealogist]

3. They haz all teh sadz

At the end of the day, we csn see who the real snowflakes are. Womp womp.