US Truck Convoy IS Being Planned, Could Be Headed to DC – Opinion

Frankly, Washington DC’s Mayor Muriel Bowser has few people to blame besides herself for what may be east bound, down, and literally coming down the road.

Politico reported Wednesday — in a very silly piece rife with hyperbole and condescension and obviously intended to smear truckers and Americans pushing back against vaccine mandates as unruly white supremacists threatening public order — that a trucker convoy similar to the one in Ottawa, Canada is mobilizing in California and will be headed East to DC.

It’s easy to imagine January 6, but Politico offered clarifications in case you were unclear.

Organizers have dubbed their movement “the People’s Convoy” and say they are working with two groups — Freedom Fighter Nation and Restore Liberty — whose founders are closely tied to right wing politics, based on POLITICO’s review of social media and online records.

Leigh Dundas is a California lawyer who founded the Freedom Fighter Nation. She gave a speech urging Trump supporters not to support anyone she claims has aided foreign governments with the undermining of the 2020 Presidential election. video posted on Twitter.

“A lot of this has worrying parallels to the build-up to the Jan. 6 riots,” said Ciaran O’Connor, an analyst for the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a think tank that tracks online extremism and which has been following the global protests. “It’s concerning how this may play out if they get to D.C.”

Mayor Bowser remains the final defender of severe COVID restrictions such as mask mandates or vaccine requirements. Even though New York, Connecticut and New York have reduced some of their mandates to DC, DC requires all residents and visitors to bring their ID to be allowed to enter the building. Meanwhile, and possibly not entirely unrelated, the city’s crime rate spirals ever higher.

But that doesn’t bother Ms. Bowser, who said shortly after instituting her vaccine mandate in January that she was CertainDC offered unique experiences that could keep its residents satisfied and within the boundaries of their district.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said Tuesday she is not worried that her administration’s new vaccine passport mandate will hurt city businesses by driving customers into Virginia and Maryland.

“We know that there are many residents who like to have a safer environment to go to the restaurants and to do all of those things. And we know that we have a very high vaccination rate in the region,” Miss Bowser told The Washington Times. “So, we’re simply asking people to show their cards, and then they will take advantage of all that we have to offer, which is different, than many other places.”

The new mandate requires that people present evidence of coronavirus vaccination to gain entry to public places. Customers must also be notified by businesses that they need to present their vaccination card in order to gain entry.

Residents, commuters, and tourists can only travel to Maryland or Virginia suburbs in order to visit establishments, without needing to show proof of vaccination.

And so, given the relative success of the peaceful trucker convoy in Canada, U.S. citizens are planning a similar trek across the country that could start as soon as this weekend and end in DC in time for Biden’s State of the Union address on March 1 (other reports have the convoy beginning March 4).

[A Department of Homeland Security] bulletin warns that the convoy “could severely disrupt transportation, federal government, and law enforcement operations through gridlock and potential counterprotests.”

…

The bulletin says the DHS “has received reports of truck drivers 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 convoy will potentially begin in California as early as mid-February and arrive in Washington, DC, as late as mid-March, potentially impacting the Super Bowl LVI scheduled for 13 February and the State of the Union address scheduled for 1 March.

“While there are currently no indications of planned violence, if hundreds of trucks converge in a major metropolitan city, the potential exists to severely disrupt transportation, federal government operations commercial facilities and emergency services through gridlock and potential counter protests.

It really couldn’t have happened to a nicer city leader, nor at a better time. Bowser recently extended DC’s mask mandate through the 28th of February. No word yet on when — or if — she plans on releasing residents from the grip of “papers please” at every indoor establishment.