Like the nazis on 4Chan 10-15 years ago.
They were debate threads for the sake of arguing. Same with the flat earthers there. It was for the argument, not the points made.
Not sure I'd conflate r/The_Donald with the Republican Party's turn into overt fascism, as a whole. But yeah, there's something to be said for the dangers of ironic bigotry.
Its not a conflation, but a direct line. I watched it happen. What was /r/TheDonald became the foundation of truth social and all these other white nationalist reddit style mediums. It normalized the kind of populism which Trumps base embraced, particularly for young white males, who have since, taken it much further. I'm very convinced it got tilted in the way that it did by a disinformation campaign by a state actor.