The People’s Convoy is packing it up and heading back to California after a disastrous weekend which started off the arrest of one of their own and the release of a video where Convoy members ganged up on a motorcyclist, beating him in the middle of traffic.
Cold temperatures and bad publicity sapped what little morale was left at the convoy’s camp at the Hagerstown Speedway in Maryland, an hour-and-a-half from D.C. proper. After one of the organizers took off again for an indeterminate amount of time, co-organizer Mike Landis announced Sunday night that the convoy was heading back west for sunnier climates. From the Daily Beast:
“So what I want to know is, what do you think about heading to California?” Landis asked, to the crowd’s delight. “Sounds like a great plan,” one convoy-goer yelled back.
Landis further said that convoy-goers who remain posted up in Hagerstown, Maryland—who have experienced many freezing nights while camped out in the small town an hour and a half north of D.C. proper—will enjoy a southerly route back to California. “We’re gonna take a little more southern route, so it’s a little warmer than this,” he said.
He pledged to “come back to finish this job” in the metro area at some unspecified time, which seems highly unlikely as their crowd dwindles.
The announcement comes after lead organizer Brian Brase fled Hagerstown again over the weekend amid continued splintering within the group.
“I am not running away,” Brase said in an attempt to convince the crowd Saturday night.
“I am not running away,” is something most feel the need to clarify when they are definitely running away.
The problems really started before the People’s Convoy began (who looks at the shit show out of Ottawa and thinks, us too!) but Thursday night was really the beginning of the end. Truckers became so heated during a meeting that police were called and one protester was arrested for carrying a loaded gun. Then Friday saw video of People’s Convoy truckers beating a veteran into the asphalt of the D.C. Beltway released to the world.
The rider told Daily Beast protest drivers stole his bike’s keys and slammed his head on the road, potentially giving him a concussion, because he flipped off the convoy. The news outlet published images of his cracked helmet as well as this video:
Whatever its aims were (it was always hazy from the get-go) the People’s Convoy claimed to be in it for the long haul. Organizers wanted to camp out around D.C. indefinitely and make lawmakers bend to their ever-changing wills.
But slowing down (and getting lost in) already dismal D.C. traffic, peeing their pants, ranting about making citizen’s arrests, battling commuters (or were they Antifa!) meeting with the most media-hungry Republican lawmakers all of one time, swapping conspiracy theories and assaulting at least two citizens seems to be all this convoy accomplished.
People’s Convoy organizers should take this and be grateful they didn’t get into more trouble. Also over the weekend, Freedom Convoy organizers faced a new litany of charges for their involvement in shutting down Ottawa as well as important international border crossings between the U.S. and Canada.