Those involved in the right-wing protest effort known as The People’s Convoy have failed at whatever exactly they were doing and are going home (or at least largely away from D.C.). After initially reaching the D.C. area in March, group members eventually drove back across the country and meandered around California, where kids hurled eggs at them. The group subsequently returned to the same D.C.-area spot at which they’d previously set up a base of operations — and they’re already leaving.
Convoy leadership made the decision to end the broader effort after talk of occupying D.C. didn’t work out… at all. (The group is comprised — or was comprised — of truckers and their supporters, and the apparent plan was to drive into the nation’s capital and… cause traffic jams, or something.) This past Wednesday, convoy leader David Riddell told group members: “Be back here at four o’clock in the afternoon [on Thursday] and be ready to roll at a moment’s notice… You guys are the new minutemen. When we roll out of here at night, [there] will be complete and total radio silence.” Riddell was committed to occupying the capital — “We are going to stay… We don’t have no exit plan,” he told someone supporting the effort. As of 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, a D.C. Metropolitan Police Department officer informed The Daily Beast the group hadn’t departed the Maryland area in which they’d established their de facto temporary home base.
According to pro-Trump pundit Dinesh D'Souza, fellow conservatives aren't even paying to watch his discredited voter fraud movie. Instead, he claimed this afternoon that many have turned to watching the film on pirated websites.
— Zachary Petrizzo (@ZTPetrizzo) May 17, 2022
And on Friday, group leadership released a press release stating as follows: “As of 2:30 pm EST today, May 20, 2022, The People’s Convoy declares victory and announces its conclusion of the national convoy portion of this great movement. Any convoy and protest activity from this time forward is done on an individual basis and is not representing The People’s Convoy.” So just to recap: after driving across the country three times and ending up with zero apparent policy changes to show for their self-righteous effort (at least at the federal level — who knows what Republican weirdos in office elsewhere are doing), they’re finally leaving. (They originally started in California, so going from there to D.C. and then back — and then back the other way — makes three cross-country trips.) Before the plans to drive into D.C. didn’t work out and leaders revealed disbandment plans, members circled the D.C.-area highway known as the Beltway some more, which they also did after arriving in the area in March.
Despite pledging to not pointlessly circle the Beltway, The People's Convoy made their return this afternoon and circled the Beltway.
— Zachary Petrizzo (@ZTPetrizzo) May 18, 2022
The point of the circling was to cause headaches for locals and put pressure on federal authorities to act in accordance with group members’ wishes… or something. “You have families that were misled across the nation… What happened here is beyond ridiculous,” one streamer associated with the convoy remarked in apparent frustration with group leadership after disbandment plans were revealed. Yeah, but it might not be ridiculous for exactly the reasons that person had in mind… but they’re getting there! Read more at this link.
After failing to occupy Washington, D.C., The People's Convoy has surrendered and is heading home with their vehicular tails between their legs. https://t.co/TBXbPZcnjO
— Zachary Petrizzo (@ZTPetrizzo) May 20, 2022
Featured Image via Stephen Melkisethian on Flickr, available under a Creative Commons License
