Monday, February 21, 2022

I hope their battle cry is "LET'S GO BRANDON"

America's Freedom Convoy Makes Headlines Before It Even Starts  Mark Davis  Posted: Feb 21, 2022





I guess you could say, “Never let a good fence go to waste.”

As plans rustle for a possible American echo of the Canadian truckers’ Freedom Convoy, the U.S. Capitol Police are in conversations with the Secret Service about the possibility of reinstalling the temporary fence that has previously encircled the Capitol grounds, a symbol of contrived concern over what the next horrific wave of Trump supporters might do.

It was erected after the January 6 riot, as if freshly aggrieved violent hordes might storm the building again and again, and it was up for the “Justice for J6” rally in September, when attendees gathered to object to the glacial pace of legal proceedings for those arrested that day.

This was pure political theater, an attempt to paint conservatives as an unhinged horde that could snap loose at any moment with fresh breaches of the Capitol hallways. There was no sound basis for that belief.

But now there is the prospect of a show of political force that could play out in the days leading up to President Biden’s State of the Union address—a convoy of truckers that would express frustrations with government akin to the passions demonstrated by their Canadian brethren. Most of the subject matter so far has involved restrictive COVID policies, but there is a breeze blowing that suggests an American counterpart might expand its scope to include a variety of burdens borne by truckers and other citizens.

The Canadian convoy involved no small amount of civil disobedience and interruptions to the flow of traffic and commerce, but at no point, despite demonization from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other critics, did it cross the line into the kind of brutal violence that was coddled and underplayed when it exploded across the streets of America under the banner of Black Lives Matter.

No fence goes up without the approval of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who surely embraces the opportunity to throw shade at an American convoy before it even takes shape. If it can be portrayed as a potential menace before the wheels even roll, it is a pre-emptive PR strike designed to distract from the plentiful crises facing Biden and the Democratic party.

The American convoy concept has had a fitful birth. The original idea was to begin its journey with a disruption of traffic around the Super Bowl in Los Angeles on February 13. Those logistics could not be mobilized in time, so the days since have been spent in wistful anticipation of a procession of truckers that would arrive in Washington in time for the Biden address.

So how would our convoy play out? How might it succeed? Are there any dangers that lurk?

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