BROKE DOWN: “Freedom Convoy” fizzles out prematurely as Ukraine war steals headlines
One of the copycat convoys hoping to wreak as much havoc on Washington DC as their Canadian counterparts did in their own country’s capital has called it quits after only three days on the road. Freedom Convoy USA 2022 departed from Los Angeles just this past Friday and somehow only managed to get as far as Las Vegas in neighboring Nevada — typically a one-day drive — over the weekend.
An even more devastating reason for the quick demise of the protest was the fact that the caravan only managed to attract five trucks to its motley parade, according to a report in The New York Times.
Perhaps, in the face of the actual fighting for freedom currently taking place in Ukraine, a tantrum over mask and vaccination rules — taking place when much of the nation is already removing COVID mandates as the Omicron variant runs its deadly course — doesn’t seem quite as urgent as it did last week.
“Truckers at this point can’t compete with the world events, and if the movement won’t transform and adapt, we won’t have the impact that we want,” wrote one trucker on Telegram. “With new events comes new ways to bring freedom. The war in Ukraine shows something important, what it really means to hold the line. Canada Truckers failed when things got tough after two days of police…push.”
“People now say: Well, those ‘Freedom Truckers’ sure picked a bad week to try and get attention for being victims of tyranny,” another convoy supporter wrote. “They are starting to twist the events by saying oh our suffering is somehow much less. NO IT IS NOT!”
Whatever the primary reason, the organizers of Freedom Convoy USA 2022 announced the end of their attempt to reach Washington DC in Time for Biden’s State of the Union address on March 1st on social media.
“‘There are two other convoys that have massive turnouts, and are in progress to the D.C. area as we speak,’ the organizers wrote on Facebook early Saturday, referring to two groups called the People’s Convoy and the Texas Convoy,” The New York Times reported.
“We are making the decision to send any truckers planned to meet at our routes to start heading to D.C. for the event on the National Mall, or to join the convoys named above as they are about to merge into one,” the organizers declared.
While those two other convoys that the organizers mentioned may still be on their way to Washington DC, at least one other convoy has been slowly falling apart.
“Lack of media attention, infighting, and poor planning have led some to fizzle out on their journey to Washington,” Mark Lamoureux reported on Vice News. “One convoy that departed from Florida mustered only about two dozen trucks at departure, and that has declined as they’ve progressed.”
With President Biden’s State of the Union address scheduled to take place tonight, the world will soon see what kind of impact these copycat convoys modeled on the right-wing financed Canadian protests will have.
Given that the world’s eyes are focused firmly on the real struggle for freedom in Ukraine, it’s likely that the entire convoy will be as effective as an 18-wheeler truck with 18 flat tires.
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