More than anything else, this was dumb. The president met Zelensky at the White House with the forgone decision to sabotage the mineral deal SecState had negotiated. And they didn't even really try to hide it.

• Trump proxies and nominees were unwilling to state one way or another about whether Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The democrats seem to have gotten wind of this and asked them directly. They weren't even allowed to claim it was provoked attack.
• The president called Zelensky a dictator (and not flatteringly like when he refers to Kim or Xi) and was somehow mum about the other guy.
• VP Vance was quite clearly given the role of escalating anything that could be perceived as a confontation.

The administration could have informed Zelensky of their decision behind closed doors but, probably, knowing that McConnell and others support Ukraine (and the American M-IC) they needed to make it seem like Zelensky provoked them. Unfortunately for everyone, Trump and Vance simply did a terrible job of making it appear authentic.

While plenty of media commentary has hinted at this, far too much of the discussion is about Zelensky wearing the same thing he's worn since (smirk) his country's borders invaded Russia's peaceful westbound tanks and infantry. The headlines have also fixated on "the controversy" where Zelensky described the global impact of a continental war as "feeling the effects", something Trump grotesquely spun into an assertion about the country's emotional state.

It was sad, it was a national embarrassment, but it's exactly what a electoral and popular majority asked for. The president's preference for Russia is as core to his persona as his occasionally charming, frequently tragic struggle with words.

I dipped into /r/conservative because, in the words of two contributors from the lesser of the drama subs:

/u/TwasAnChild Haven't gotten their marching orders from fox news yet, check in a couple of days and they'd have changed their tune on this

/u/skishface 1000%. They will have 24 hours of authentic reaction then they all fall in line behind a unified right-wing talking point. It's wild they call us the sheep.

This exchange was addressing the /r/conservative response to Trump Gaza #1 video, but I've found their observation to be generally applicable.

It's somewhat convenient to go to that sub to get an idea of the conservative mindset as well as a tldr of the GOP's official messaging - it has both. In response to Friday's theatre, there was understandably no shortage of "this is what I voted for" because, as I said, this is what they voted for. A few comments critical of the administration bubbled to the top (in both the Gaza video and the simulated negotiation). This cause of this is twofold:

1. Plenty of conservatives were raised before the GOP turned isolationist and doing the Neville Chamberlain routine offends them. Still others inexplicably expected diplomatic poise from Trump, perhaps thinking he might negotiate the deal back up to a $500B value. Instead they watched their leaders yell at a wartime president about integrity of an oval-shaped room.
2. Unless things have changed since I participated in Reddit many years ago, anyone can vote on any sub, moderators can only limit comments. And so non-conservatives follow or happen upon /r/conservative (e.g. when it hits the front page) and through upvoting/downvoting can impact the popularity and visibility of a comments.

And so these conservative-but-not-MAGA opinions are amplified by left-leaning passersby, much to the ire of the platform adherents. Some find this funny, others find it disgraceful, SCOTUS is due for a decision on the matter once it returns to them. For me, it just means my search for raw opinions and official taking points has to slog through indignant complaints about downvotes, the 'hivemind', and brigaders (brigadiers for autocorrect people).

Friday's incident was no exception:

UltraAirWolf

People are confused about downvotes. We need to understand this is the most brigaded sub.

It's gotten bad enough that there's now a sticky post in which the /r/conservative mods admit they are at a loss.

Jibrush

Addressing Brigading Hello verified conservatives! We are fully aware of the absolute state of the sub. We're taking some measures to deal this while we recruit and train new moderators...

Let me take a quick break from solving the internet to offer a solution to the mods of /r/conservative. First, yes, Reddit is predominantly left-leaning, they absolutely brigade /r/conservative, and there's no technical solution without a change to the platform. But pursuing a technical solution is both difficult and - let's be honest - what a liberal would do. 2025 is all about making a deal. Having a compromise mindset works in every context - business, geopolitics, even social media.

There's some bad news though, compared to the woke hivemind of Reddit, /r/conservative is very small and unable to independently combat the brigade, even with allies from the UFC and conspiracy subs. In transactional terms, /r/conservative don't have a lot of cards to play.

Luckily, Reddit is now an amoral corporation and beholden to shareholders and not than their purple-haired, keyboard warrior users. And Reddit understands brigading is bad for everyone, they even say so! It's just not enough of a problem to really matter. They shuttered popular subs like the_donald, so it's unlikely that /r/conservative's struggle will move the needle. There's an ocean of space between the /r/conservative downvote problems and anything that will hurt Reddit's engagement metrics and AI training copus profits.

So while it's admirable that the /r/conservative mods wish to have an independent place for conservative discussion, they're in an unwinnable position*. *Unless, say, the brigaders were oozing desperation, e.g. hiring North Korean downvote bots and taking out 20% APR loans.

Anyway, here's the deal. First, everyone in the sub should buy 100 RDDT shares - keeping in mind that simply using the service has historically cost Reddit precious server resources so they owe it. Once that is in place, it'd be best that every fifth post on the sub be a crosspost to some liberal subreddit. Sure, that'll mean /r/conservative will feature dogwalker manifestos and people criticizing Wayne Gretzky, but it's in everyone's best interest to seek peace. In exchange, the rest of Reddit will probably stop brigading the 'Flaired users only' posts.

Also I should say, it's very disrespectful that /r/conservative haven't thanked Reddit in recent memory. Moreover, I imagine many users have posted on Truth Social and Rumble and TikTok, almost like they don't even want Reddit's help. Very Disrespectful.

I recommend the mods submit this peace plan to spez when they are ready.

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