Washington, DC, Afternoon of Sunday, March 6th – A 30 mile procession of trucks is en route to slowly loop the DC beltway twice with no official plans to enter the Capital City.

The night before, thousands gathered at Hagerstown Speedway in Maryland, 85-miles away, to protest Covid-19 mandates (Checkout TRR Founder Ethan Ralph’s coverage from that evening). Organizers, truckers, and healthcare workers all gave speeches. Media was there from all over the country. Onlookers stayed until the late hours of the night with music and funnel cakes in a scene reminiscent of a Podunk carnival.

After negotiating with officials, organizers announced that the truckers would be making 2 laps around Interstate 495, a 64-mile route encircling DC. An estimated 1000+ trucks dubbed the “People’s Convoy” are expected to make their rounds this afternoon.

After weeks of hearing that “the truckers are coming,” I can’t help but feel disappointed with the end result of these protest efforts. They were inspired by the legendary trucker convoy in Ottawa, which had a dramatic impact on government affairs and the supply chain, prompting Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau to enact a maple syrup flavor of Martial Law. The end result was the trampling of a handicapped woman and the imprisonment of dozens of protesters, including preacher and Killstream guest Artur Pawlowski (who is currently in a Canadian prison due to his anti-COVID lockdown activism). 

You can donate to Pawlowski’s legal fund here.

Meanwhile, the “DC” convoy will not even be observable from the Capital. Furthermore, the protest is occurring on a Sunday. That’s the day federal employees have off, so this self-serving stunt will only end up causing traffic delays for civilians.

Every step of the way the convoy has been met with pressure from the government with increases in security and requests to the National Guard to help control traffic. The convoy was originally scheduled to arrive in DC on March 1st, coinciding with the State of the Union. However, the truckers did not set upon their final destination until days later, after negating with local officials to downscale the protest to two laps around the Beltway.

In the aftermath of the January 6th and Charlottesville protests, it seems right-wing movements have been cut off at the knees out of fear of being labeled white-nationalists, conspiracy theorists, or terrorists. Meanwhile, left aligned gangs like Antifa and BLM are free to ransack cities.

Despite the proliferation of media attention, it is not quite clear what the goal of the protest is in the first place. End the vaccine mandates? Which mandates? A look at the convoy’s website clarifies: “WE DEMAND THE DECLARATION OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY CONCERNING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC BE LIFTED IMMEDIATELY AND OUR CHERISHED CONSTITUTION REIGN SUPREME”.

I do have to admit that seeing the sheer number of truckers who came out to support the movement warms my heart. Over 1,000 trucks parading around the capital city with even more people coming out on the overpasses to support the convoy. That signifies that Americans across the country are not backing down. But what is the end goal here? To sell t-shirts? It seems like a real groundswell was just diverted off into some harmless honky tonk huckster-fest.

At least Killstream Legacy Guest Corinne got a meme moment, though.

The Powers That Be had to be laughing at the end of the day. This finish was all hat and no cattle.