The Department of Homeland Security is warning law enforcement and public safety officials in the United States that a prolonged trucker convoy protesting vaccine mandates could begin on Feb. 13, when the Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles.
The warning of a trucker protest similar to the one that has brought Ottawa, Canada, to a virtual halt, states that “the convoy could severely disrupt transportation, federal government, and law enforcement operations through gridlock and potential counterprotests.”
According to senior law enforcement officials and documents obtained by Yahoo News, the warning circulated to law enforcement nationwide on Tuesday by DHS states that the agency “has received reports of a convoy of truckers planning to potentially block roads in major metropolitan cities in the United States in protest of, among other things, vaccine mandates for truck drivers.”
The DHS alert says that “the group intends to start in California as early as mid-February and travel to Washington, D.C., as late as mid-March, reportedly gathering truckers as they travel across the country,” adding that truckers from the protest in Ottawa may also head to Washington to participate.
🤯🤯🤯
I’ve been wondering if this was a possiblity–if maybe, after the Canadian truckers finally prevail, they keep the convoy going and head on down to Washington.
We all know how big the Canadian Trucker protest is. In America, it would be even bigger just based on how much bigger the US’s population is than Canada’s. Canada’s population is 38 million. America’s is 334 million.
If there was a Trucker protest in America, it would be enormous.
Apparently, there are over 1.4 million truckers in America.
If even 1% of them made it to Washington D.C., that’s 14,000 trucks descending on the Capitol.
This would grind the US economy to a halt. You think the supply chain situation is bad now? Just wait until the truckers start protesting.
The DHS document, which is marked unclassified and for official use only, notes that as of its release on Feb. 8, the U.S. trucker convoy “appears to be purely aspirational because the event is only being discussed online,” though it warns that “this could change quickly.”
A DHS source told Yahoo News that the U.S. trucker convoy “is absolutely a real concern.”
“They are definitely going to follow the Canadian model and shut down Washington,” said the DHS official, referring to the massive demonstrations that have drawn hundreds of truckers and others to Ottawa since last week, disrupting traffic throughout the Canadian capital and prompting the mayor to declare a state of emergency. On Monday, protesters blocked off traffic in both directions along the Ambassador Bridge that connects Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit, shutting down one of the busiest international border crossings between the U.S. and Canada.
The only thing I wonder about is if there’s enough motivation in the US to replicate what the Canadians are doing. I don’t think our Covid restriction regime is as stringent as Canada’s, although I could be wrong.
Initially sparked in response to a new COVID-19 vaccine mandate for truckers entering Canada, the ongoing Ottawa protests have snowballed in recent days. The Canadian trucker convoy has been embraced by prominent U.S. Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, and amplified by right-wing media like Fox News as well as on white supremacist channels on social media, according to a recent Politico report.
“At this time, we have no indication that individuals discussing participating in these activities in the United States are engaged in anything other than First Amendment–protected activity,” the DHS alert dated Feb. 8 states. “Nonetheless, DHS remains concerned that these events could have significant public safety implications or potentially be exploited by ideologically motivated actors to potentially act or encourage others to act violently.”
I’m sure the feds will make sure that happens.
And I’m sure Antifa are already getting practice swings in with the bike locks in preparation for when George Soros inevitably sends them to attack the truckers.
If we actually see a real Trucker Convoy here in the US, it would be incredible. Absolutely incredible.
I wonder if the reason various states have been rolling back their Covid restrictions in recent days is partly out of an effort to preempt any sort of copycat Trucker uprising here in the US. It’s possible.
My last thought on this is that, yes, while I think it would be incredible if this happened in the US no matter what, I feel like it might be too late for it. They’re saying the trucker convoy wouldn’t reach Washington until late March or even early April.
Doesn’t it feel likely that most, if not all, the Covid restrictions will be lifted in the US by that point?
Maybe the mere threat of a trucker protest will compel the government to expedite its timetable on scrapping Covid restrictions.
A Convoy hasn’t even started in the US yet, which means that scrapping Covid restrictions now wouldn’t look like capitulation to the Truckers.
I really don’t know, though. I’m excited to see this all play out.
🚚 HONK HONK 🚚