Insurrection Online: Political Loss and Republican Reddit as a Tool of Revival After the 2020 Election

• In Event: Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 9. Information & knowledge

Abstract

In 2020, then-President of the United States, Donald Trump, lost his re-election campaign, inciting an insurrection at the US Capitol. In 2024, he was re-elected as the Republican Party leader and subsequently became the 47th President of the United States. Through an analysis of three Republican supporter forums on Reddit, this paper demonstrates how these accounts utilized the online platform to mobilize after the 2020 election in three main ways: first, by continuing to post about the need to be revolutionary, second, by emphasizing Trump’s relevance in the party, and finally by sowing anti-establishment sentiments. On these Reddit accounts, GOP supporters kept the anti-establishment message of Trump’s 2016-2020 presidency alive. Reddit, as a unique platform where censorship and anonymity are the norm, affords such a revolutionary space.

Author

• Kayla Preston, University of Toronto