San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Convoy of 1,000 vehicles arrives in Maryland with unclear plans
HAGERSTOWN, Md. — They drove pickups, RVs, 18-wheelers and minivans, some making a 2,500-mile journey from Southern California. More joined as the convoy passed through Amarillo, or rallied at a farm equipment supplier in Monrovia, Ind. And others came in Friday, as about 1,000 vehicles converged at a speedway here under the rallying cry of “freedom.”
The truckers and their supporters are now the closest they have been to the nation’s capital, where they want to hold lawmakers “accountable” for the government’s pandemic responses. But their plans for coming days remained opaque on Saturday afternoon, with authorities across the region warning of potential disruptions on highways but unable to offer specifics.
The convoy’s motives are muddy, too. People gathered at this western Maryland city described frustrations with workplace vaccine mandates and restrictions designed to limit the spread of COVID — even though those rules have now been lifted in many places. The speedway crowds chanted anti-President Joe Biden slogans and displayed support for former President Donald Trump. Extremism analysts point to a broader set of right-wing causes that have motivated participants.
On Friday night, Brian Brase, a convoy organizer, looked out at the crowd, some dressed in red-white-and-blue beanies and waving American flags, and told them to celebrate the distance they had traveled. But they would have to wait longer to learn their final destination and what to do when they get there.
“Well, we’re going to do something,” he said, laughing. “What this is is yet to be determined. Please be patient.”
Asked about the group’s plans, People’s Convoy organizer Mike Landis said: “We’re going to keep annoying D.C. … Just make them wonder a little bit. Look, we’re truck drivers; we’re very spontaneous.”
The possibility of caravans of truckers heading to the Beltway has prompted security concerns, drawing in police agencies from D.C., Maryland and Virginia to monitor the group.
Supporters have been joining and leaving throughout the trip, making it difficult to estimate the size of the convoy.
Officials across the region advised drivers to be prepared for potentially severe traffic through the weekend. “It’s a very fluid situation,” Ellen Kamilakis, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Transportation, said Saturday.
The protesters, inspired by the self-styled “Freedom Convoy” that occupied downtown Ottawa for weeks, have complained about the perceived infringement of their freedoms.
Brase said the group wants an end to the national emergency declaration in response to the coronavirus — first issued by Trump in March 2020 and later extended by Biden — and for Congress to hold hearings investigating the government’s response to the pandemic.
Craig Brown, 53, left his home in Sandpoint, Idaho, two weeks ago. A freight truck driver, he felt uncomfortable that the government could expect him to receive such a new vaccine, and he wanted to teach his teenage daughters to stand up for what they believe in. So he bought a month’s worth of nonperishable food, installed an extra freezer in his vehicle, and set off to join a movement.
By Feb. 23, he had joined the group on their way out of Southern California. Since then, Brown said the trip has been more exciting than he could have imagined. People across the country had made signs to support them, he said, and so many volunteers had brought food to rest stops that he had hardly tapped into his nonperishables.
“It’s a high, seeing all the people on the overpasses and the sides of the roads,” Brown said. “All these people treating us like we are heroes.”
Brown, who had COVID-19 last month, does not want to do anything political in D.C. He said he wants to end the trip by parking alongside the truckers and their supporters, and eating a meal together.
“We are going to eat, going to celebrate and enjoy the company of people who think we are heroes,” he said.
During the journey, donations have poured in. By Monday, the group claimed to have collected more than $1.5 million.