During his press briefing Friday, Donald Trump was drowned out by the sound of truckers blasting their horns. According to reporters and video of the conference, which took place outdoors in the Rose Garden, you could clearly hear the horns from Constitution Avenue outside the White House. Rather than acknowledge them for what they were—a sign of protest—Trump tried to convince everyone that they were actually a signal of support for him and his administration.
“And you hear that outside? That beautiful sound? Those are truckers that are with us all the way,” Trump said. “They’re protesting in favor of President Trump as opposed to against—there’s hundreds of trucks out there and that’s the sign of love, not the sign of your typical protest so I want to thank our great truckers. They like me and I like them, we’re working on something together.”
President Trump: “Vaccine or no vaccine, we’re back.” pic.twitter.com/xJm8VqRmn8
— The Hill (@thehill) May 15, 2020
That is, quite simply, a ridiculous lie.
About the honking & horns we all hear in the back as President Trump takes questions at the White House. https://t.co/dfErTzH4Z2
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) May 15, 2020
The truckers are protesting historically low freight rates and calling for transparency in broker transactions.
Here’s a screengrab from video shot today by an NBC News crew: pic.twitter.com/eRsoDWykRJ
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) May 15, 2020
Truckers outside WH are protesting low freight rates, not pro Trump. Organizer: “This is our distress call to our commander in chief to address the problems we are facing. He has called us heroes — his heroes need his help now.” https://t.co/yAkU495vYT
— Dan Froomkin/PressWatchers.org (@froomkin) May 15, 2020
This isn’t the first time truck drivers have protested in this way. A similar protest took place on May 1st, with dozens of trucks parked and honking on Constitution Ave. As the Washington Post reported at the time, Trump had recently called truck drivers “the foot soldiers” in the war against COVID-19 but had done little to offer them protection or assistance.
“The American truck driver needs help, and we need it now,” Rick Santiago, who organized the protest told the Post. “This is our distress call to our commander in chief to address the problems we are facing. He has called us heroes — his heroes need his help now.”
On Thursday, horns could again be heard during an interview Trump gave to Fox Business. He tried to give it the same spin.
“You hear all that honking?” he asked host Maria Bartiromo on the White House lawn. “That’s trucks. They love their President,” adding that the truckers “are really thankful that I am President, frankly.”
The trucking-based website Freight Broker Live wrote of that comment: “To some protesters, this video was a slap in the face. Truckers have been on the ground for two weeks, and thought they were making some ground getting their message across to the White House.”
We all know Trump has thin skin and a massive ego, but it’s still amazing to see him go full “Boo-urns” in the face of criticism.
(via Mediaite, image: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
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