Republicans Who Opposed Racial Justice Protests Hope Truckers 'Clog Up' US Cities

[appalachiablue]

- The Guardian, Feb. 18, 2022. - Lawmakers including Rand Paul and Ron DeSantis say they would back disruption of a Canadian-style trucker convoy. -

In the wake of racial justice protests following the murder of George Floyd, a wave of Republican lawmakers supported legislation to punish protesters who blocked roads. Now some of those same Republicans are supporting similar tactics from conservative trucker convoys protesting against vaccine mandates. Last year, the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, signed an anti-rioting law that stiffened penalties for protesters who blocked roads and even gave some legal protection to drivers who ran them over. It went so far that in September a federal judge struck down the law, ruling it unconstitutional.

Draft legislation from DeSantis – seen by many as the leading heir to Donald Trump – was even more draconian. He initially sought to extend “stand-your-ground” laws that would have granted legal immunity to drivers claiming to have unintentionally killed or injured protesters disrupting traffic. Yet DeSantis has thrown his support behind conservative trucker convoys using similar tactics to protest against vaccine mandates that for weeks have blocked roads between Canada and the US, stalling trade between the two nations and leading to disruptions to the global supply chain. He also announced Florida’s attorney general would investigate GoFundMe after it dropped the page for donations to Canadian truckers.

Nor is he alone. The Texas senator Ted Cruz told Politico he sent a letter to Federal Trade Commission demanding an investigation into GoFundMe. The Ohio congressman Jim Jordan similarly decried GoFundMe. Many Republican politicians have also expressed enthusiasm and support for US truckers seeking to emulate the Canadian protests on US soil. A convoy of truckers is set to begin a protest drive to Washington later this month, in a move some fear could bring the same kind of disruption that has gripped the Canadian capital, Ottawa. The Kentucky senator Rand Paul, who has criticized the disruptive tactics of racial justice protesters in the US, is “all for” the disruption of a trucker convoy.

“I hope the truckers do come to America. I hope they clog up cities,” Paul told the Daily Signal, a publication of the conservative thinktank the Heritage Foundation.

Paul said: “Civil disobedience is a time-honored tradition in our country, from slavery to civil rights, to you name it. Peaceful protest, clog things up, make people think about the mandates.” In 2020, Paul described a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters that confronted him in Washington as an “angry mob”, thanking police for escorting him and “literally saving our lives from a crazed mob”. Jared Holt, a researcher of extremism, said the double standard by rightwing politicians was part of a strategy by Republicans to favor seizing any political opportunities to disrupt a Joe Biden presidency, rather than choose to be consistent in ideology...

More, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/18/republicans-trucker-convoys-coronavirus-covid-mandates

[pandr32]

1. They are traitors

They think they are heros.

[Blue Owl]

2. The GOP is now the official party of clogging

[monkeyman1]

3. republican's now issuing public threat's !! DOJ should look into this & expel the pos ?

[Cha]

4. And Greedy Asshole

Trucker Traitors want that easy money making gig.

if they start.. I hope the Police nip them in the bud.

[monkeyman1]

5. crap -just forgot - trump is in deep shit for the same thing ??

[C Moon]

6. Rand Paul is so owned by putin. He couldn't make it ANY more obvious by

being so vocal while his owner is trying to attack the innocent people of the Ukraine.

What a disgusting individual. I would love to see that worried face in cuffs, standing before a United States of America judge.

The United States of America is a great country, and the likes of Rand Paul and all his right wing lunatic traitorous friends are a disgrace.

[Trueblue1968]

7. .... #LockThemAllUp and make the truckers/owners pay HUGE fines.

[wnylib]

8. Better make sure they never get inside DC.

Several of them in Canada were armed. Once inside DC, or even surrounding it, they could finish what Jan 6 failed to do.