Tweeting for Trump?

As the whole world waited with baited breath for the outcome of the most contentious and bitter US Presidential election in history, the top poker pros were still hammering away at their keyboards – 140 characters of text per tweet being all they could add (apart from their own individual votes) to the fight for the White House.

When the unthinkable – many supporters would say inevitable – happened, and Donald J. Trump passed the magic 270 mark, Negreanu, Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow and Doug Polk among many others were quick to share their horror and their glee – the divide turning into a chasm.

Daniel Negreanu, an outspoken critic of Trump, had even taken out US citizenship to be eligible to vote against the billionaire businessman-turned-politician and he kicked off the evenings Twitter wars with:

GO OHIO! GO FLORIDA!!! Let's send a message that America will NOT tolerate another Trump in the future. We must CRUSH him tonight!

— Daniel Negreanu (RealKidPoker) November 9, 2016

It wasn’t too long, however, before the ‘nightmare scenario’ for Democrats and liberals everywhere started to look like a distinct possibility, Doug Polk tweeting:

They just said trump was drawing to an inside straight flush before tonight. What is going on @cnn#ElectionNight

— gN Doug Polk (@DougPolkPoker) November 9, 2016

And when the race was ‘all over bar the shouting’, and Trump was declared the new 'President-elect’ of the United States of America, it was poker big-mouth Mike Matusow who took to the twittersphere to pronounce…

Must respect to poker players who were not affraid to be called racist/phobe/phobe @TexDolly@MattGlantz@ToddBrunson

— Mike Matusow (@themouthmatusow) November 9, 2016

Of course, the top poker players did not have the future of the game in their minds as they tweeted away – as I wrote back in the early summer, there is little to separate Trump and Clinton when it comes to their likely approach to the future regulation and legislation of poker.

Instead it was a battle for the future of the planet in many minds, Negreanu tweeting…

Neo-Nazis across the globe and white hate groups in America are feeling pretty good right now. Their candidate is helping their cause.

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) November 9, 2016

a nod to the support for Trump given by the likes of the KKK in recent weeks. Environmental matters cropped up too, the Canadian/American adding…

To any/all millennials who care about climate change but didn't vote cause "they both suck" I hope you understand what you have done.

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) November 9, 2016

Phil Hellmuth, who has been largely absent from the flaming war which has engulfed the poker tweeters in recent weeks and months, finally found time to add his ‘tuppenceworth’ (that’s 2-cents-worth for those living in the new land of Trump!)

I'm sweating the election on the New York Times up to the minute site: https://t.co/KfjTMuMntN

— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) November 9, 2016

although it was clear he had no idea what he was actually talking about and had to be helped out by some of his followers…

New York Times has Trump 87% to win, but https://t.co/AYbRrfRCiR had Clinton 52%: https://t.co/Ow79bNlWH1

— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) November 9, 2016

The legend of the game, Doyle ‘Texas Dolly’ Brunson had been all over the place in the run-up to the bitterly-contested election, but finally showed his true colors when he tweeted his response to a ‘lesser of 2 evils’ tweet:

I voted the other way but I felt the same. https://t.co/yeOZZddJc9

— Doyle Brunson (@TexDolly) November 8, 2016

although the elder statesman of the game couldn’t keep his eyes open long enough to see in the result, giving up around the point others were starting to have panic attacks at a Trump victory appearing over the horizon…

Wake up man. It's a dream. Florida will save you. https://t.co/O2lQAzaGuU

— Doyle Brunson (@TexDolly) November 9, 2016

Barry Greenstein linked his tweet to one of the funniest stories between poker players and Trump fans that I’ve seen funny because of Barry’s sarcasm but scary because the Trump supporter couldn’t tell the difference.

I usually avoid discussing politics at the poker table, but I documented my interaction with a Trump supporter. https://t.co/OoPxRN9TX9

— Barry Greenstein (@barrygreenstein) November 5, 2016

One of the most liberal of poker’s top pros, Vanessa Selbst, was noticeable only for her absence from Twitter during the election hoo-hah, her last tweet a few days ago perhaps indicating that she still hasn’t stopped crying or woken up from her nightmare scenario…

Friend asked me 2 xplain Hillary 3.5:1. I started "in a world of infinite 2016 elections" then stopped mid-sentence & sobbed myself to sleep

— Vanessa Selbst (@VanessaSelbst) November 6, 2016

I’ll leave it to Antonio ‘The Magician’ Esfandiari to sum things up from the anti-Trump poker players’ corner…

The beginning of the end is upon us. Pretty scary times...

— Antonio Esfandiari (@MagicAntonio) November 9, 2016

…and for the trump corner? Back to Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow who has somehow found the gracious tweet within him…