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Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

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Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / “Popular Populism” Open Thread: The ‘People’s Convoy’ Is Getting Uglier

“Popular Populism” Open Thread: The ‘People’s Convoy’ Is Getting Uglier

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From local DC news station WUSA9, “What’s in a Convoy: How a lack of coherent leadership is causing fractures and factions in the large trucker protest”:

Over the last 27 days, much has been said about the convoy of truckers and supporters who arrived at Hagerstown Speedway after traveling across the country to protest COVID-19 mandates. A lot of that dialogue has come from truckers themselves as they live stream on YouTube from their morning meetings and their dashboards.

Now, it seems, the message is less unified than ever, and the ideas on what’s next for these thus-far peaceful protesters are becoming more extreme.

Over the weekend, vocal leader and People’s Convoy organizer Brian Brase told the participants that he was taking a leave of absence to Ohio to spend time with family and bring his truck back to continue the convoy’s protests. He did not specify how many days he would be absent.

The narrative has continued its back and forth on whether the convoy is making an impact, as their influence seemingly peaked when they met with U.S. senators Ted Cruz and Ron Johnson earlier this month. In recent days, videos showing cyclists and pedestrians blocking the convoy’s attempts to traverse D.C. freely have shown the resolve of D.C. residents, especially those used to heavy traffic…

The rhetoric from Ron Coleman, another vocal leader of the convoy, took a sharp turn Monday. Coleman claimed that Metro Police were conducting illegal activities by blocking highway exit ramps to filter the protest and prevent the convoy from moving into downtown as a large group. He also claimed some convoy members intend to make citizens’ arrests on officers and highway drivers causing dangerous road conditions.

In a video posted Tuesday afternoon responding to his own original comments, Coleman clarified that the idea of citizens arrests was posed as a question regarding the constitutionality of the road blockades by MPD, and is not a goal of the convoy…

Early Tuesday morning, emotions at the speedway came to a head when a live stream by First Responders Media showed a convoy participant on the microphone making false claims and a number of spectators approaching him and threatening him with violence over “attempts to misinform and divide us.”

Confusion mounted as a Thursday deadline to leave Hagerstown Speedway loomed, increasing the need to find a new venue to house the truckers’ large space requirements. However, by Monday night, leaders spoke to the convoy in Hagerstown and said they negotiated with speedway officials to stay another week…

I haven’t been able to find any solid information on how many participants remain at the Hagerstown campground, although certainly Bold Leader Brase is not the only defector. Someone on Twitter compared the remaining protestors to ‘the tar at the bottom of a week-old cup of coffee, increasingly concentrated and bitter’…

The convoy was denied a permit to protest on the National Mall over the weekend, because there are rules, which is probably a good thing for all parties involved, given what some of the more overamped foot soldiers had in mind:

Best (worst) they managed, after all the big talk:

One potential final disruption — just don’t use the C(ovid)-word:

Reader Interactions

93Comments

  1. 1.

    Mike in NC

    These patriotic yeoman truckers must be pretty well off to spend unlimited time on this dumb stunt.

  2. 2.

    oatler

    “Gosh, look at the time! By the way, when does life begin?”
    – some confederate shithead today; the CNN ID chyron hides their names.

  3. 3.

    Ella in New Mexico

    Oh FFS just take off your masks and go the hell home you nutcases.

    Apparently you’re independently wealthy or unemployable as a trucker either way just get a life

  4. 4.

    Ken

    organizer Brian Brase told the participants that he was taking a leave of absence

    Oh? Is this his job? Is he being paid for doing this, and if so by whom?

    As for the cough, no reason to think it’s COVID. Could be any of dozens of other respiratory diseases. From what little I’ve read of their living quarters and gathering places, Legionnaires’ isn’t out of the question.

  5. 5.

    lollipopguild

    “We are here to protest Reality and demand that our fantasy replace your Reality.” I love how they love love love the cops until the cops tell them “no” and then it’s time to Gomer Pyle with “citizen arrests”.

  6. 6.

    dexwood

    What a fucking insult to POWs that flag is. J6 prisoners of war. Yeah, right. Delusional, traitorous scum. Good luck with your citizens arrests assholes.

  7. 7.

    SpaceUnit

    This is quite possibly The Stupidest Thing Ever, and yet there’s a part of me that really wants to see them attempt to put Metro DC police officers under citizens arrest.

    Please, please, please . . .

  9. 9.

    Cameron

    O noble truckers, long-suffering from the dawdle of impudent cyclists and the malevolence of vile bird-flippers! Where is thy Donald to bigly part the Potomac?

  12. 12.

    Cameron

    @dexwood: Remember – one of these same chuckleheads said that they were showing true bravery.   Unlike those silly Ukrainians who just sat around suffering and dying and shit, these Merkin patriots were standing up for FREEDUMB!  And, yes, he actually made that comparison.

  17. 17.

    RSA

    [T]ruckers haven’t been able to “go to the bathroom” while circling the Beltway, which has left “people hav[ing] actually pissed their pants!”

    “Son, lemme tell you about way back in 2022 when we drove in circles on the highway until we pissed our pants.”
    “Yeah, Dad, I remember the story.”
    “You were just a kid then, too young to understand that we were saving the country!”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “We were heroes!”
    “Yeah–have you taken your evening meds yet?”

  18. 18.

    FelonyGovt

    I saw a “Freedom Convoy” sign hanging over a freeway in Southern California over the weekend. What nonsense. And with the war in Ukraine going on, they really need to read the room and go the fuck home.

  20. 20.

    Phylllis

    I’m in DC at the Omni Shoreham & they’ve come down Connecticut Ave a couple of times constantly blowing their truck horns. The DC folks are mostly impervious to them.

  21. 21.

    SFAW

    I think Stand Your Ground laws are a collective abomination. But a no-longer-small part of my psyche wishes that DC had SYG laws, and that DC residents about to be citizen-arrested would avail themselves of SYG’s protections.

    And that disgusting J6 “POW” flag and flagpole should be used to administer a little “attitude adjustment” to those treasonous bastards.

  22. 22.

    Barbara

    You call it “citizens’ arrest,” I call it kidnapping. Wanna guess which one the US Attorneys Office will go with?

  23. 23.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    This seems like so much more work than getting the shot.

    You libtards don’t appreciate the sacrifices they’re making to protect your FREEDOM!!!!!!!

  24. 24.

    Papa Boyle

    POW?  So they finally admit the January 6th assault on Congress was an act of war.  Baby steps, I guess.

  29. 29.

    BottyGuy

    How can these “truckers” take a month plus off of work for this bullshit? These aren’t truckers, they are some retired folks that own a truck.

  30. 30.

    mrmoshpotato

    New POW flag out today.

    HOLY SHIT!  That’s some deplorable, despicable shit right there!  Makes me wish John McCain was still alive to get in that shitstain’s face.

  33. 33.

    debbie

    @Barbara:

    They should be arrested, chained to school desks, and forced to listen to lectures about what is and isn’t in the Constitution and what their actual rights and powers are.

  35. 35.

    mrmoshpotato

    @debbie:

    They should be arrested, chained to school desks, and forced to listen to lectures about what is and isn’t in the Constitution and what their actual rights and powers are.

    They should be made to read the US Constitution first.  Then actual adults can lecture them about it.

  36. 36.

    J R in WV

    From the original post:

    “What’s gonna happen up here in DC: Black Lives Matter Street, we’re gonna take it back. All that paint’s coming off that street. … It’s gonna get tarred and feathered. And then we’re gonna tar and feather all our delegates.”

    These fools display their total ignorance of our government. There are no delegates in DC, there are Representatives and Senators. I guess there are a few delegates, nonvoting members of Congress from territories?

    You would think people willing to protest would know something about the government they are protesting. I think all of these people are Russian stooges set to disrupt our society while WW III is simmering over in Europe, and should be in internment camps under guard where they can’t do any more harm until hostilities are over and done with. Stooges of Putinski.

  39. 39.

    Betty

    @Martin: I have heard speculation that these folks are not actually truckers. Even Amazon drivers know how to take care of business on the road.

  41. 41.

    Suzanne

    Seems that the British royal family visit to Belize is not going well and they are being called out for, oh, you know, centuries if colonialism and slavery.

    And not to body shame, but Mrs. Prince William looks terrifyingly skinny, much thinner than she used to. I wonder if she’s healthy.

  43. 43.

    Martin

    Gov Newsom just signed a bill that bans out-of-pocket costs for abortions. No deductibles or copays. By law insurers in CA must cover abortions. MediCal covers them as well using state dollars where federal dollars can’t be used.

  47. 47.

    Spanky

    Yeah, I’m kinda curious how many of these “truckers” actually have a cdl. Would be a shame if they were pulled over without one.

  50. 50.

    Martin

    @Suzanne: I’d qualify that by saying that they aren’t British Royal Family. They renounced that. As such I wouldn’t call them out so much as ask them how to reach the folks still in the family.

  52. 52.

    StringOnAStick

    Sounds like it’s concentrating down to sovereign citizen BS; this will go ooh so well for them when they try that citizens arrest warrant on a DC cop that is completely out of fucks to give after 1/6.

  54. 54.

    ian

    @J R in WV:

     should be in internment camps under guard where they can’t do any more harm until hostilities are over and done with

    Lets go with no on that part.

  57. 57.

    Ken

    By the way, anyone know if Fox is still covering the truckers, or has it become too pathetic even for them?

  58. 58.

    skerry

    @Martin: I think you’re confusing the royal brothers. Prince William and his wife Catherine are in Belize. They are considered senior royals, as William is 2nd in line to the throne. His brother, Prince Harry, and his wife, Meghan Markle, have renounced their senior royal status and are living in California.

  60. 60.

    Jay

    @Ken:

    Oh? Is this his job? Is he being paid for doing this, and if so by whom?

    Dude set up a 501 or 503, to be able to take in donations, with out taxes, dark money, online,

    However a few days ago there was a report that he was walking around with a grocery bag, collecting cash from the Flu Trux Klan participants.

    I am certain, that he is abiding by the IRS’s requirements to properly document all donations and expenses,//

  61. 61.

    Roger Moore

    @Ken:

    I think they’d be happy to get everything from the 13th Amendment on.  But don’t be surprised when the first one they target is the 16th; the people funding the movement will have their way.

  62. 62.

    Wapiti

    The “old” POW flag appeared in the early 1980s, when I was going into the Army. It seemed driven by conspiracy theory and popular action films where Stallone or Norris would save the abandoned POWs who were left to rot in Viet Nam. Total bullshit, then and now. I gag every time I see that bullshit flag flying at a federal building.

  63. 63.

    lollipopguild

    @Roger Moore: I think that what some of them really want is to bring back is legal segregation or some how figure a way to give private business owners a legal right to descriminate  against all of the people that they do not like.

  64. 64.

    Roger Moore

    @Wapiti:

    The POW flag started out as an attempt to create a Dolchstoßlegende, claiming that the US could have won Vietnam if those (Democratic) politicians hadn’t kept the military from doing what was necessary to win.  Imaginary POWs left to rot in Vietnam were the perfect way of keeping our loss in Vietnam fresh in the public memory.

  65. 65.

    Karen

    They were punching the windows of cars whose drivers gave them the finger. The spokesman for this “convoy” was saying they’ll clog up 911 because the cops did nothing to the drivers that flipped them off. I still haven’t figured out what this protest was about since COVID requirements are stopping.

  66. 66.

    Roger Moore

    @lollipopguild:

    I don’t think legal segregation will be enough.  It was always a poor substitute for actual slavery, and if they ever manage to get it back they’ll start scheming to reinstate formal slavery again.

  67. 67.

    different-church-lady

    @Ken:

    Could be any of dozens of other respiratory diseases.

    I’m hoping for “All of them, Katie.”

  69. 69.

    NotMax

    Dunno if there are any billboards visible from the Beltway.

    If so, an opportunity to figuratively fry the grits of these Squawl Reveres.

    (Ping-ponging back and forth as to whether Crawl Reveres is more on point.)

  70. 70.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Eventually these stupid motherfuckers are going to exhaust the patience of the public and, at long last, find out what fucking around gets you.

  73. 73.

    West of the Rockies

    @Karen:

    Isn’t “the finger” protected free speech?  I’m sure many here recall that notorious Mad magazine cover from almost 50 years ago (the first issue I ever bought).

  75. 75.

    Suzanne

    @skerry: Barbados removed the Queen as Head of State. Wouldn’t be surprised if much of the rest of the Commonwealth does the same.

    Also, nobody likes Prince Charles and William also kind of sucks. And Catherine just has this uneducated look to her. I don’t predict the monarchy lasting much longer than Elizabeth.

  79. 79.

    bbleh

    Strong Support For Truckers in Hagerstown
    Diner patrons cheer protestors, express disdain for D.C. residents

    Special to The New York Times

  84. 84.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Suzanne: Probably a dead thread but felt I had to respond. I agree that most of the Caribbean realms will become republics over the next few years but you are incorrect about the rest  Yes, Charles is not as popular as some other members of the family, but slightly over 50% of the British public still approve of him and William is the 2nd most popular royal after the Queen, with over 70% approval ratings  As for the long term future of the British monarchy, the last opinion polls I have seen showed nearly 80% of people wanting it to continue. Ironically, the defection of Harry and Megan has actually hardened support for the monarchy here

  85. 85.

    Zinsky

    These losers don’t really have any meaningful “demands.  Liberty and freedom are just words the right-wing uses to mask the fact they cannot even articulate their grievances in an adult manner.  Give them all a very LARGE parking ticket and revoke their CDLs.  If they want to be full-time performance artists and poseurs, instead of moving our nation’s freight – let ’em!

  86. 86.

    Matt McIrvin

    It will be… interesting to see what happens if they take some random driver hostage in a “citizen’s arrest”. You know they wouldn’t really try it on a cop. But if it’s just some person who gets penned in by trucks, they may think that the police will just let them do it.

  89. 89.

    fancycwabs

    So as best I can tell the “truckers convoy” is a continuation of the January 6 terrorist attacks.

    And should be treated as such.

  90. 90.

    MisterDancer

    @Sloane Ranger: the defection of Harry and Megan has actually hardened support for the monarchy here

    Replying to a dead thread’s deadness — yeah, there’s a wealth of material on Twitter about how that came about. And it’s so frustrating how deeply it penetrates — I dead-stopped reading a fanfic (yes, really) because they utterly broke my immersion with an ugly joke comparing Ivanka to Megan, and then doubling down in the comments when people rightly complained.

    It’s ugly.

  91. 91.

    Gravenstone

    Some truckers have also suggested that they could arrest a Beltway driver if they successfully pin in the driver, take them out of their car, and then conduct an arrest.

    So, openly conspiring to kidnap people. Glad we have that on the written record…

  92. 92.

    Gravenstone

    @mrmoshpotato: They should be made to read the US Constitution first.

    Out loud. That way they can’t claim to have read it when they just glaze over the words on the written page.

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