U.S. Truckers Gear Up for Cross-Country Anti-Vaccine Protest Convoy

A ‘Freedom Convoy’ of U.S. truckers now says it plans to depart California for Washington, D.C., on February 22.

AP/Andrew Harnik, file
President Trump honks the horn of an 18-wheeler truck at the White House, March 23, 2017. AP/Andrew Harnik, file

Just as the three-week trucker protest in Canada looks to be fizzling, drivers across the border in America are beginning to ramp up their own demonstration against vaccination requirements and other Covid-related restrictions.

Calling themselves the “People’s Convoy,” the group of U.S. truckers now say they plan to depart Adelanto, California, on February 22 and make their way to the nation’s capital before President Biden’s State of the Union address on March 1.

The organizers have set up a web page and various social media accounts in an effort to raise funds on behalf of the effort, including a Facebook page that has 110,000 followers. An earlier version of the page was removed by the platform for what the company said was violations of its terms of service.

A statement posted Friday to Facebook listed some high-profile supporters, including the anti-vaccine activist Robert Kennedy Jr. and his group Children’s Health Defense, and a former Trump national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

In a video posted on the group’s website, truck driver Mike Landis says the group is hoping to convince the Biden administration to rescind a national state of emergency related to Covid that was extended on February 24, 2021, and is in effect through March 1.

“We want this government to bring back the Constitution by ending the Emergency Powers Act and then those that were a part of this whole scheme to be held accountable,” Mr. Landis said in the video. “We want our country back.”

The organizers and their supporters have made multiple appearances on conservative media outlets in recent days to gin up support, including several appearances on Fox News’s popular primetime programs. The musician Ted Nugent is one of the celebrities endorsing the effort, saying he would be joining the convoy at some point along its route.

“I know these guys. I am these guys,” Mr. Nugent said in an appearance on Newsmax TV. “I got a big Zebra Ford Bronco with 900 horsepower that gets exactly 600 yards to the gallon. So I am going to go join those guys and make sure that the middle finger stays on fire.”

Also enlisted in the fundraising effort is a Boston-based nonprofit, the American Foundation for Civil Liberties and Freedom, that was formed in April 2021 by a lawyer, Christopher Marston. It bills itself as “transpartisan.”

As first reported by Grid news, Mr. Marston’s most recent fundraising efforts have been on behalf of President Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

In an email to the Sun, Mr. Marston said his earlier fundraising efforts were not connected to Mr. Trump. “We were supporting the public release of evidence provided to courts around the country of issues in the 2020 election, and provided a forum for experts to be heard,” he said. “We are not affiliated with any party, politician, nor are we partisan.”

The group has adopted C.W. McCall’s 1975 hit single “Convoy” as its de facto theme song. The anthem hit No. 1 on both the country and pop charts during a brief period when truckers were portrayed in popular culture as lovable rascals who spent their time running bootleg beer with the likes of actor Burt Reynolds. 

Federal officials are keeping a wary eye on the developing protest, with the Department of Homeland Security last week issuing a warning to law enforcement nationwide about the convoy. The warning cautioned that the protests were just “aspirational” at the time but bear watching.

Police officials in charge of security at the U.S. Capitol reportedly briefed congressional staffers late Friday on plans for coping with a potential influx of truckers. In a statement, the Capitol Police said it is aware of the truckers’ plans and will “facilitate lawful First Amendment activity” on the National Mall.

Capitol Police “is closely coordinating with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, including DC’s Metropolitan Police Department, the United States Park Police, the United States Secret Service and other allied agencies to include the DC National Guard,” the agency said.

On Friday, the Canadian truckers who have come close to paralyzing the Canadian capital, Ottawa, during three weeks of mostly peaceful protests began to disperse. According to press outlets on the scene, hundreds of police officers — some of them decked out in riot gear — began forcibly removing some of the protesters and towing away their vehicles.


The New York Sun

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