While too many senators on the right haven’t been willing to call out radical wokeness, the obnoxiousness with which these activists have their defended their alarmist claims might have just pushed some senators over the edge.
Or, at least one, Republican Senator for Louisiana John Kennedy.
During a hearing on Wednesday regarding certain environmental topics, titled “Denial, Disinformation, and Doublespeak: Big Oil’s Evolving Efforts to Avoid Accountability for Climate Change,” Sen. Kennedy went toe-to-toe with professor Geoffrey Supran on the groups he publicly supports on social media.
And, as seen in a clip of the hearing shared to the social media platform X, the questioning got quite heated.
Sen. John Kennedy grills climate prof Dr. Geoffrey Supran, claiming he retweeted climate activists criticizing senators.
Supran: “I did not say that I don’t support this. I simply did not tweet it.”
Kennedy: “You retweeted it, didn’t you? … Are you gonna call me a sick fuck?” pic.twitter.com/DTH2pE857H
— The Recount (@therecount) May 1, 2024
The clip began with some back and forth between Kennedy and the chair of this particular committee, Democrat Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, over the fact that Kennedy’s time had expired.
However, before Kennedy was constrained to yield the floor, Supran asked, “May I clarify one final point?”
Whitehouse allowing him, Supran then informed Kennedy, “These are not my tweets, these are retweets …”
Do you support Sen. John Kennedy?
To which Kennedy interjected, asking rhetorically, “You often retweet stuff you don’t support?”
“I did not say that I don’t support this,” Supran answered, trying to dig himself out of his self-created hole. “I simply did not tweet it, which, as you are alleging …”
“But you retweeted them, didn’t you?” Kennedy responded, with Supran insisting, “I’d like to make it clear that this form of character assassination is characteristic of the propaganda techniques.”
Here was where Kennedy truly lost his patience, asking, “Are you going to call me a sick f***?”
Now, what were those offending tweets — sorry, retweets — that were the focus of such heated debate during this committee hearing?
For that, one must consult the full recording of the hearing, which in turn contained Kennedy’s full line of questioning.
Kennedy first asked Supran, “On Dec. 14, 2023, you tweeted in support of Climate Defiance, that’s an entity that the Brookings Institute has called a radical climate change group, is that correct?”
Supran admitted he didn’t remember, so Kennedy continued, asking “Would this be the same Climate Defiance … that called Sen. Joe Biden, ‘a sick f***?’”
Supran again expressed his ignorance, so Kennedy pressed on, asking “Would this be the same Climate Defiance that called Senator Lisa Murkowski a murderer?”
Supran maintained neutrality, saying he wasn’t responsible for the statements of others, so Kennedy went ahead and read out his tweet, which said, “We do not do online petitions. We do not do NGO coalition letters. We do not do f***ing bus stop ads. We chase fossil fuel CEOs and the politicians who do their bidding. And we do not apologize.”
For those curious, the tweet is still up on Supran’s page, along with many others of a similar tenor (including one from December gushing about the “climate comedian” who Zoomed into class, which sounded about as much fun as brushing your teeth with vinegar):
WARNING: The following post contains vulgar language that some readers may find offensive.
We do not do online petitions. We do not do NGO coalition letters. We do not do fucking bus stop ads.
We CHASE fossil fuel CEOs and the politicians who do their bidding. And we do not apologize.
— Climate Defiance (@ClimateDefiance) December 14, 2023
Fun final class of the semester today!: Popcorn 🍿, Ribena 🥤, & my friend & favourite climate comedian @RollieWilliams Zooming in to talk about his incredible climate storytelling on @ClimateTown, trying to “find the peanut butter to put on pills of information”. pic.twitter.com/jrURcj6923
— Geoffrey Supran (@GeoffreySupran) December 1, 2023
So, while crude, Kennedy did have a point.
No one has ever retweeted something they didn’t agree with — unless they explicitly point out how much they disagree with the original tweet.
That would be a given for anyone who retweeted anything.
More important than that semantic debate, however, were the contents of those retweets of Supran’s.
The fact of the matter was, Supran retweeted a post from a group that expresses the most unhinged climate alarmism and has used radical tactics to further its message.
Not only that, but much of what he tweeted and retweeted was but another form of the same rhetoric, pushing an extreme, sky-is-falling hysteria about something that was never that much of a problem.
Climate change has been grossly over-exaggerated, and the push to lie about the impending end of the world needs to stop.
Kennedy had every right to call Supran out on his radical positions.
America could use more senators bringing the fight to wokeism as directly as Kennedy did here.
