On Reddit, Trump Builds High Wall for Questioners

ENLARGE

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at Trump Doral golf course in Miami.

Hours after delivering a wide-ranging press conference in which Donald Trump invited Russia to unearth some of Hillary Clinton’s missing emails from her time as secretary of state, the Republican nominee held a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” that was considerably less newsy.

Of the more than 24,000 questions posed to Mr. Trump in the forum, which he had promoted as “SO HUGE,” he answered eight. Long stretches passed between each answer, and his responses were often vague. (His campaign said he was answering questions while on a flight to Toledo, Ohio, where he held a rally Wednesday evening.)

One user asked Mr. Trump to explain his plan for “reducing or removing” the influence of money in politics. “Keeping Crooked Hillary Clinton out of the White House!” Mr. Trump responded.

Another asked how Mr. Trump planned to curb abuse of the H-1B skilled worker visa program. The businessman directed the user to his website and added: “My plan is the exact opposite of Crooked Hillary Clinton.”

The nominee also took questions on the Affordable Care Act (he’d “repeal and replace”), voter fraud (“a serious concern”), NASA (“wonderful!”) and his favorite U.S. president (he listed four, including Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln).

Mr. Trump elaborated most in his response to a question about how he would make his case to former supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who officially lost the Democratic nomination to Mrs. Clinton on Tuesday.

“Though Bernie is exhausted and has given up on his revolution, many of his voters still want to keep up the fight,” he wrote. He criticized Mrs. Clinton as a “puppet” of special interests, and added, “We welcome with open arms all voters who want an honest government and to fix our rigged system so it works for the people.” Asked by a libertarian how he would appeal to voters leaning toward casting their ballots for a third-party candidate, he promised to “return the government to the people.”

Mr. Trump didn’t answer questions about his views on monetary policy, government surveillance, drug policy, gay rights, and a range of other subjects.

And that’s just of the questions that moderators allowed to be posed. The Trump Reddit imposed far stricter rules than for most AMAs, mandating 10 strict rules—including “no spamming,” “no racism/anti-Semitism” and “no dissenters or SJWs [social justice warriors].” Posts from new accounts were automatically removed, and users were required to have a certain level of “karma points”—which indicate level of engagement with Reddit—to be able to post.

“For this AMA we have temporarily taken extra security measures to keep our community free from troublemakers,” the moderator wrote. “We built the wall 10 ft taller, you might say.”

Mr. Trump’s AMA was atypical for the format, which usually allows for a free-wheeling, wide-ranging conversation covering questions posted by a host of different users. Public figures who hold AMAs where they cherry pick certain questions are frequently criticized on the forum.

The final question Mr. Trump answered was one that likely had little trouble getting past the moderators: “Are you tired of winning?”

Mr. Trump’s reply: “I am never tired of winning.”

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