If the U.S. gets its own trucker convoys, Americans can blame Canada

WASHINGTON—No one has celebrated as loudly as the American political right watching the “Freedom Convoy” that has paralyzed Ottawa and temporarily shut the busiest U.S.-Canada border crossing.

Donald Trump has expressed his support and celebrated the protesters call that Justin Trudeau be thrown out of office (the former president called the prime minister a “far left lunatic”). Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was among the U.S. officials vowing to investigate GoFundMe after the fundraising platform withheld donations to the protesters. There you have the two top contenders for the Republican presidential nomination on board. You can add the darling of the conspiracist extremists, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who suggested the “corporate Communists” at GoFundMe should be arrested. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz said on the weekend “the Canadian truckers are heroes.”

On Monday and Tuesday, Fox News cable hosts were all over the story, portraying the “truckers” as working-class freedom fighters standing up to tyranny. Scarcely mentioned on those broadcasts was the harassment of residents and arrests in Ottawa, how unpopular the protesters are in Canada, and how popular vaccines and COVID control measures have been.

Watching it all as an American, if you didn’t otherwise pay much attention to Canadian politics, you might have almost expected Trudeau to actually be on the verge of resigning.

Tucker Carlson, the most popular cable host in the U.S., said “Trudeau is not in Ottawa right now,” just around the time the prime minister was in Ottawa addressing Parliament about the convoy’s blockade. Carlson was explicit in calling for Americans to take inspiration from the occupation of the Canadian capital. “Most of the time, trends start in the United States and they move north to Canada, but this time, the opposite could happen,” he said.

Nominally, this protest is about mask and vaccine mandates and other COVID restrictions. Yet you can see, in the calls of the protest organizers for the governor general to depose the prime minister and overturn laws, in their signs that read “F— Trudeau,” and in their pleas to police to take their side, that there is something different at work. A web of conspiracy theories, a lot of visible extremists, a stated agenda that can seem nonsensical. A general rage at the government, and a demand that its authority not be recognized and that its leaders be thrown out of office and possibly arrested.

It is reminiscent in that respect to the insurrectionist riot that overtook the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, intent on overturning the results of the U.S. election.

One of the most shocking things in that case was how quickly and easily a mob was able to occupy the U.S. seat of government. Though the mob was unsuccessful in its aim and cleared from the building in less than a day, it seems a small miracle that the event wasn’t far bloodier and more catastrophic than it turned out to be. Jan. 6 showed the vulnerability of democratic institutions to an angry minority.

Late last week, the Republican party called the Jan. 6 riot “legitimate political discourse,” and censured the party members involved in the congressional investigation of it. For many on the U.S. right, that type of anti-democratic uprising, once unthinkable, is now an accepted tactic.

Now a crowd representing a small minority of people has taken over the area surrounding Canada’s Parliament buildings. Ottawa’s mayor and police chief have acknowledged that they need significant outside resources to regain control. Allied protesters in Windsor managed to shut down traffic at the busiest border crossing for trade this week using what appear in news photos to be only a few dozen vehicles blocking the road.

No wonder the American right is paying close attention. “Far-right extremists routinely adopt tactics used by counterparts in other countries,” tweeted Brendan Nyhan, a political science professor at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and founder of the Bright Line Watch organization that monitors threats to American democracy. “The U.S. needs to get ready for this trucker convoy tactic before a major American city is paralyzed like Ottawa.”

The sight of American flags at the Ottawa protest and the massive fundraising muscle demonstrated by the blockade has led to widespread speculation — including by Canadian officials and Ottawa police — of U.S. influence and money flowing into the movement. Certainly U.S. Republican officials believe that to be the case — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton acknowledged that when he said: “Patriotic Texans donated to Canadian truckers’ worthy cause using GoFundMe.” Aside from the endorsements and possible donations, their rhetoric and tactics indicate that the “Freedom Convoy” protesters have been inspired by their southern allies.

Now, it appears, the inspiration may be flowing the other way. One of the most significant effects of the convoy might be the demonstration of just how quickly and easily an angry, anti-democratic minority can shut things down in an attempt to get their way. Canadians have seen that all too vividly. And Americans have been paying attention.

It’s a fair bet it won’t be long before we see that lesson put to broader use.