'No good deed goes unpunished?' Chelsea Manning and Glenn Greenwald launch tweet salvos against each other in a row that no one saw coming

WikiLeaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning and Intercept co-founder Glenn Greenwald squared on Twitter after Manning launched an attack on his once ally and biggest supporter, all to the delight of Greenwald’s many haters.

Former Army intelligence analyst Manning launched a seemingly unprovoked Twitter attack on Greenwald on Thursday, calling him “Greedy, unprincipled” and one she was “embarrassed” to have called a friend. The investigative journalist, implicitly Manning, had “Chosen to bash, harass, humiliate, intimidate and lie to move on." She added that if she could return the $ 10,000 donation that Greenwald had once sent her in an emergency, she would do so.

glenn greenwald, I do not have $ 10,000 right now, but if I get it, I will send it back to you from a donation you once made. i can not handle this anymore. I’m afraid of you and everything you do. you are greedy, unprincipled and embarrassed to ever consider yourself a friend

Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea) September 2, 2021

Greenwald originally said Manning “Did not specify any reviews," and that her post constituted “Lubricate artist behavior." But in a series of tweets, he then came up with some clear suggestions for what could explain the sudden drama. Greenwald’s thread started with him condemning “Friendships that depend on political agreement”, as he called “Cynical transactions” while reminding his 1.6 million followers that he stood by Manning during her trial and jail and raised money for her. Manning spent seven years in military prison due to leaks of evidence of US war crimes in Iraq, such as the iconic ‘Collateral Murder’ video released by WikiLeaks. She was then ordered back to jail for refusing to testify against WikiLeaks and its co-founder, Julian Assange, and was finally released in March 2020.

Friendships that rely on political agreement were never “friendships”, just cynical transactions. When she was in jail repeatedly trying to kill herself, I was one of the only ones who visited, spent hours on the phone, and raised money for her. No good deed goes unpunished. 🤷‍♂️ https://t.co/ZJ3EtdGXzP

- Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 2, 2021

Greenwald’s thread, however, suggests that the break between the two was already before Manning’s second period behind bars. In a screenshot of private announcements posted by Greenwald on Thursday, Manning condemned his paranoia on Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox and called Carlson a “Nazbol demagog” -a portmanteau of ‘national’ and ‘Bolshevik’, which today can refer to both extreme outer-left and extreme outer-right. She insisted that Greenwald was “Really off the mark” in receiving invitations to light bulb in the popular TV show.

“Many people on the left - not all, but many - mistake friendships with political agreements, so that when the political agreement erodes, so does ‘friendship’ for them," Greenwald wrote before reflecting on “What left-liberal space has become."

“They all turn on each other, condemn each other, reject each other. Their currency is this kind of self-sacrificing complaint, ” he wrote. Greenwald also noted that Manning took a parental leave in Assange in June and told Intercept’s Ken Klippenstein that she would rather have leaked the classified material to him if he had been at the time. Greenwald left Intercept in October 2020, citing a lack of editorial freedom. He said the polling station he co-founded refused to publish his article on then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden unless parts of the story that were critical of Biden were removed.

Julian Assange is currently being caged and tortured for being the recipient of the leaked documents and bravely publishing them. What a shit to say and what even more rude and shit to promote. https://t.co/bI0N55EuVu

- Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) June 25, 2021

While Manning did not herself disclose the details of her complaints against Greenwald to the public, art from a vague proposal, the journalist “hurt” some of the people she knew, Manning’s supporters were quick to state their own reasons and ran gamut from a lack of sympathy or understanding of the trans experience to “he is evil. ”

So nothing specific, just do not like him because he talks to people on the right. Understood. The left is completely pathetic.

- Gay American Labor Nationalist (@ AntiEstabli1989) September 2, 2021

But most others seemed to suspect that it was Greenwald’s parental change to the right from liberal critics that had caused the breach, mentioning either his Fox News appearance, his high-profile move to the video platform Rumble (used by many who are kicked off (YouTube and other mainstream platforms), his decision to abandon the concept because of his refusal to allow meaningful criticism of Joe Biden, and his general statement of opinions critical of Democrats, neoliberals, and ‘the woke ‘.

Going from civil libertarian mass surveillance critic to taking money from CIA-funded Trump-backed mass surveillance vendors to being a propaganda mouthpiece is quite a trip.

- NNtM🧲🍵 (@ N0TtheMessiah) September 2, 2021

Greenwald struck back, noting that such “Public Condemnation Rituals” was simply “The way you get punch and plauses on the left."

Every week there is a new melodramatic ritual of condemnation like this in left-liberal spaces. The victim rises to their spotlight, squirting vague complaints about having been “abused” or “threatened” or abused, and then collecting the pluses and rewards. Sacrifice is their currency. pic.twitter.com/qUuSETR0yo

- Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 2, 2021

However, this retaliation quickly became fodder for his usual critics, and as the series began to trend on Twitter, the site’s trend section showed messages almost exclusively critical of Greenwald, calling him cruel, narcissistic and unprincipled.

Mention a more iconic duo than Glenn Greenwald and throw someone’s personal struggles with mental health back in your face as soon as they criticize you pic.twitter.com/6gN21yylSt

- Toyota Echo🌹 (@Durand_Durand_) September 2, 2021

Seeing Glenn Greenwald spiral into ever-increasing depths of cruelty is only surprising if you’ve never seen a narcissist’s mask slip. That’s what narcissists do when they feel they are losing control of how the public perceives them, my dudes .

- Kendall Brown (@kendallybrown) September 2, 2021

Greenwald also received support from conflicting voices on Twitter.

Left-wing activists and journalists (no difference at all between the two categories) believe that public slander of friends and colleagues over political disagreements is a kind of admirable virtue. This is why all their organizations are full of self-destructive train wrecks

- Michael Tracey (@mtracey) September 2, 2021

When I see Glenn Greenwald trending, I know I’ll be guaranteed to see thousands of liberals lose their minds in rage over something they declared to be a core belief until just a few years ago.

- MartyrMade (@martyrmade) September 2, 2021

Cognitive dissonance in the comments is incredible. Yes, he may be one of Bolsanaro’s strongest critics, but he’s an evil fash man because he went on Tucker a few times.

- Poppy Coburn (@kafkaswife) September 2, 2021

Some wondered why the two could not just get along, or why they fought in the first place, while others suggested that such fights had unfortunately become common at both ends of the political spectrum.

It is discouraging that the American left on Twitter has adopted drama from High School.

- Arthur Morgan (@echtMorgan) September 2, 2021

Self-defeating train wrecks that increasingly control culture, discourse, and almost every note institution in America?

- - (@SocratesNoir) September 2, 2021

All spaces in politics have become this. From left to right.

- David Sanchez (@ dms7807) September 2, 2021

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