Sen. Joe Manchin was confronted Friday by the radical environmentalists of Climate Defense, and who came out on top of that confrontation depends on which side of the story you believe.
WARNING: The social media posts and videos below include vulgar language that some viewers will find offensive.
The group claimed in a post to X to have “humiliated” the West Virginia Democrat, but the short version of their first encounter with him told a different tale.
“You sold our futures and you got rich doing it, you sick f***!” the first protester said, at which point Manchin stood to face the man. “How dare you? You have sold our –”
What, precisely, the protester was going to accuse Manchin of having sold may never be known, as he was cut off when Manchin’s communications director, Jonathan Kott, literally threw him out the door.
Trending:
Hahahahahaha I keep saying you can just throw these guys around like nothing, it’s easy hahaha pic.twitter.com/YV2CmShut7
— Jarvis (@jarvis_best) March 1, 2024
Kott later joked in his own X post that he was thinking about going into the personal security industry.
Might start a security business on the side. https://t.co/SEVz6NriUu
— Jonathan Kott (@jonathankott) March 2, 2024
Are climate protesters’ antics getting out of control?
Climate Defense posted its own longer — but still significantly edited — version that did put them in slightly better light, at least to some.
“BREAKING: we just called Joe Manchin a sick f***,” the group said — apparently unironically — in its post to X. “We humiliated him in front of a herd of Harvard elites. He squared up. We held firm. Barbaric murderer, hideous fiend, he torches humanity and laughs.”
Manchin certainly didn’t seem “humiliated” at any point during the video Climate Defense posted, though one would presume the group posted the shots they considered most humiliating.
In fact, the senator appeared composed and generally polite, inviting other protesters present to sit down and talk.
They refused, implying that civil discussion was never the group’s goal, and instead proceeded to shout down the senator when he attempted to continue his meeting.
Manchin continued to remain calm, however, and even the group’s own video showed him politely thanking his guests individually for attending.
BREAKING: we just called Joe Manchin a sick fuck. We humiliated him in front of a herd of Harvard elites. He squared up. We held firm. Barbaric murderer, hideous fiend, he torches humanity and laughs. pic.twitter.com/1ajrQsKnbJ
— Climate Defiance (@ClimateDefiance) March 1, 2024
For the most part, responses to the video on X mocked the group, such as the one below.
“We squared up.”
You were yeeted out the door lol.
— MemeticDialectics (@MemeticDesigns) March 1, 2024
According to the Washington Examiner, the demonstrators were protesting the Mountain Valley Pipeline that Manchin has argued will contribute to America’s energy security as well as provide thousands of jobs.
