Donald Trump’s most ardent Internet supporters were not happy with the candidate’s lackluster debate performance, and despite helping him game the online polls, were openly questioning whether he could live up to their lofty expectations.
Users on 4Chan and 8Chan, who have been instrumental in crafting and pushing Trump’s Internet presence—occasionally to the detriment of the campaign—worried that their candidate had been molded by “shills” or had “gotten played” by outside forces, according to The Daily Beast.
One 4Chan user (who has now deleted his post), even questioned whether to forge on in Trump’s name. “OK guys, let’s cut the bullshit. Trump actually sucked tonight,” he wrote. “Let’s talk about where we go from here. What does Trump need to do better next debate?”
The consensus seemed to be that Trump was just off his game, and that future debates might prove better for the Republican nominee. They also put a heaping of blame on Trump’s spin room. “The very reason we’re hearing all this post-debate discussion of biased moderators and microphones not working is spin for the Trump loss.”
While some were abandoning ship, others were determined to keep the faith. “[A]s an alpha …[Trump] has no problem with asserting his will. You beta cucks wouldnt understand because when the waiter brings you the wrong order you are too busy shoe gazing at your cell phones to dispute in front of your step-sons mom,” wrote a Trump defender.
They did all agree on one point, though: Trump’s throwaway comment on “400 pound” hackers was way off.
THE 400-POUND HACKER – MEME AWAYYYYYYY
— TJ (@TonyJWriter) September 27, 2016
And while they privately fretted about his stamina, they publicly worked the post-debate polls to the best of their ability, gaming online opinion-trackers for Forbes, CNBC and others.
In short, it was a very emotional night for the Internet’s dark corners.
