Michael “ClimateGate” Mann cannot get out of his own way.
His arrogant, condescending social tweets speak for themselves—just as the words, sentences, and paragraphs of the East Anglia emails did. [some emphasis, links added]
“And yes, there is empirical, peer-reviewed support for the conclusion that climate deniers, in general, are truly awful human beings.” (–Michael Mann, via X)
He is not the kind of person you would want in just about any endeavor, much less as a climate scientist trying to present a case.
This post traces Mann’s angst on X and then at BlueSky, his successor to X:
This account will go dormant on Jan 20. You’ll still find me on @BlueSky (https://t.co/BIaYw5CGII)
& other socials (https://t.co/a8V8rfgTvh). My social media team will continue to post links here to events/interviews/etc. on a pro forma basis. Replies will be turned off.— Prof Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) December 4, 2024
And how has that gone, Michael?
Here is a sampling of Mann’s anger and despair at his critics, and even the Left, which is weakening in the face of utter rejection from the political majority.
Start with this one:
A note to trolls who comment on my posts: I hide your comment so nobody sees it, then I block you, mute you, and report you appropriately (e.g. “hateful entities”), which is a 4x hit to your account based on twitter’s algorithm.
— Prof Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) January 10, 2025
And then his headlines:
“Scientists brace ‘for the worst’ as trump purges climate mentions from website…”
“The keys to the car have been given to the polluters and fossil fuel plutocrats and they intend to drive it off the climate cliff.”
“Conservative and Concerned about Climate Change? You’re Not Alone – A Conversation with Bob Inglis and Michael Mann”
“Humans brought the heat. Earth says we pay the price”
“‘They Know They’re Lying’: The Fossil Fueled War on Science, Humanity: Latest #BradCast“ ”The US is poised to become an authoritarian state ruled by plutocrats and fossil fuel interests.”
The US withdrawing from the Paris Agreement is unfortunate, but multilateral climate action has proven resilient and is stronger than any single countries politics and policies.”
“I just reported [X] as a ‘violent & hateful entity’. You can too.”
Mad at Allies
“@HuffPost has offered no explanation of why it has chosen to act as an enabler of fascism, racism, bigotry, misogyny, and authoritarianism.”
“The sad irony of an account that purports to speak for science (a) referring to the overwhelming evidence for human-caused climate change as a matter of “belief” while (b) ignoring what the science actually says here …
“To save the planet, stop reading The [Washington] Post.”
“Note to journalists: If you are writing about these wildfires and not mentioning climate change at all, you are complicit w/ an agenda-driven campaign of misinformation by the right.”
“one of the more dangerous forms of trollbot, the ‘divider’. They pose as climate activists but they are actually ‘agent provocateurs’, whose m.o. is to create conflict, discredit experts, and divide the community of climate advocates. Make sure to report and block!” (January 11, 2025 on X)
“A reminder, Bjorn Lomborg & the WSJ editorial page habitually team up to promote disinformation about climate change and extreme weather events, especially wildfire.”
“MAGA is everything that is evil in this world. And they must be viewed and dealt with as such.”
“These people constitute a threat to us and the planet: #PeterThiel#ElonMusk #VladmirPutin #MBS #RupertMurdoch #LeonardLeo#DonaldTrump #CharlesKoch“
“Actually, the greed of a small number of malicious plutocrats & autocrats we can count on the fingers of our hands: #Thiel #Musk#Putin #MBS #Murdoch #LeonardLeo #Trump.”
“The malicious lies spread by Musk, Putin, Trump & their MAGA parrots represent an existential threat to us and the planet.”
“Self-styled climate “centrists” deflecting attention from the PRIMARY underlying contributor to these disasters (fossil fuel burning and human-caused warming) are a free gift to polluters and petrostates.” January 11, 2025
‘Wildfires will get worse as the planet gets warmer.”
“Trump continues to be one of the most despicable people on the planet. He hates America and Americans (unless they bend the knee). An utter disgrace.”
“Well, @WSJ/Murdoch are a central cog in the fossil fuel disinformation machine, and Lomborg is their chosen liar-for-hire.”
“And yes, there is empirical, peer-reviewed support for the conclusion that climate deniers, in general, are truly awful human beings.” Source here
“The United States is now poised to become an authoritarian state ruled by plutocrats and fossil fuel interests. It is now, in short, a petrostate.”
More Recently (BlueSky)
“Scientists decry Trump energy chief’s plan to ‘update’ climate reports: ‘Exactly what Stalin did’ [yeah, that was me]” (12 days ago)
“Zeldin and EPA doing ‘opposite’ of protecting Americans from environmental threats with rollbacks. Lee Zeldin parrots discredited fossil fuel industry climate denier talking points.” (5 months ago)
“To be fair, the reputation and credibility of those five individuals [of the DOE science study] was already in tatters.” (17 days ago)
“There’s a reason it’s called the “enDANGERment finding”. Carbon pollution from fossil fuel burning represents a danger to both us and our planet.” (19 days ago)
“I don’t understand how any parent could so willingly serve as an enabler of the destruction of our world.” (20 days ago)
“I can’t think of anyone more qualified to present antiscientific [sic] climate denial propaganda than these five. And I can’t think of anyone more likely to seek out these fossil fuel apologists than Christopher Wright.” (22 days)
“It’s naive and unhelpful to argue this is just about some old man and his grudge against wind turbines. In fact, it’s in service of an agenda promoted by his deep-pocketed plutocrat backers. To ignore that connection is to play into their disinformation campaign. (23 days ago)
“Wondering why Trump is suddenly spending all his time bashing renewable energy? It’s to placate the petrostate actors & fossil fuel interests who installed him in the first place. He’s begging them to stand by him, knowing the very worst is yet to come….” (24 days ago)
“Sadly, it’s young American males who are buying into a really warped sense of masculinity (with plenty of help of course from a full court press by polluters, petrostates, plutocrats, and yes in many cases our press). Don’t simply blame the messenger.” (June 26, 2025)
“Trump (and more to the point, the polluters whose decades-old, focus-group-tested climate denial talking points he’s parroting) aren’t this ignorant. They’re banking on the fact that the American public is.” (2 months ago)
Final Comment
This is enough to keep a psychologist busy. Mann stepped into his own manhole, and he kept digging down.
Like Al Gore, he hurts his cause more than he helps it, as 97 percent of his colleagues (just an estimate) are more rational and quieter than he is on the same subject.
Top image via Democracy Now!/YouTube screencap
Read more at Master Resource
