I don't just mean outrage or regular rage, I mean shock that someone was to the left of "legal weed and free college but only for those that operate a successful business for 3 years in a disadvantaged community" 
takes.
I think federating took them by surprise, looking back. For about a week, those smug liberals were at a loss to even fathom what Hexbears were saying, and could only chant bullshit about how we're Russian/Chinese bots.
Sure they still do that but they've slightly adapted to Hexbear presence.
part of becoming a leftist for me was realizing that winning is more important than honor, and that the two need not necessarily be distinct. Winning for the sake of our cause will deliver the moral high ground once we have socialism and end poverty.
It's all fine and honorable to say we can and should get socialism without bloodshed, purely through democratic elections, but that hasn't historically been a viable strategy (Chile, Spain, Germany, and current issues within Venezuela). There's only been one instance I can name where a country voted its way into socialism, and it was Czechoslovakia in 1946. But even then they had to do a Soviet backed coup two years later in 1948 to fully seize power.
The best strategy is the one that works and achieves victory, not the strategy that can claim moral superiority in defeat. There's no honor in defeat, it's just defeat.
Romania technically voted it in, probably with a majority since it left the Axis in 1944 and joined the Allies, but the Soviets were leaning on them heavily.