US senator compares Freedom Convoy to Joe Rogan
Texas Senator Ted Cruz issued a scathing attack on left-wing politicians in the US and Canada, accusing them of “trying to silence” activists who oppose government control and Covid vaccine mandates.
"They don't like Joe Rogan for the same reason they don't like the Canadian truckers – because he’s saying things that they can’t control,” Cruz told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Thursday. He also condemned what he said were efforts by the White House to “silence” any views that “autocrats didn’t approve.”
The senator’s comments follow an urging from the US to their Canadian counterparts on Thursday to “use federal powers” to stop the truckers who are protesting the Canadian Covid vaccine mandate by blocking the border crossing between the two countries.
Cruz, who was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, defended the actions of the Freedom Convoy truckers, calling their actions “powerful” and a reflection of people who are “fed up with these petty, totalitarian government officials” that attempt to “control every aspect of your life.”
The US Department of Homeland Security warned on Wednesday that it could face its own domestic trucker protests around the Super Bowl or President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.
The senator’s defense of individuals who are critical of government actions in the US and Canada comes amid ongoing controversy over Spotify hosting Joe Rogan’s podcast, despite claims he has allowed the spread of Covid misinformation on the show.
Rogan has defended himself, arguing that he is simply trying to hear opinions from “highly credentialed, very intelligent, very accomplished people” that differ from “the mainstream narrative.”
NEW YORK (AP) — Several conservative media figures in the U.S. have taken up the cause of Canadian truckers who have occupied parts of Ottawa and blocked border crossings to protest COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates.
Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity cheered the truckers on while showing four live reports from Ottawa this week. Tucker Carlson's online store is selling “I (heart) Tucker” T-shirts edited to say “I (heart) Truckers.”
“Send our solidarity, love and support to all of the brave people who are there,” Hannity told Fox reporter Sara Carter, who was with the protesters in Ottawa, on his show Thursday. “Don't give up.”
The Canadian protesters are decrying vaccine mandates for truckers and other COVID-19 restrictions and are railing against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, though many of the country’s infection measures are already rapidly being lifted as the omicron surge levels off. Parts shortages caused by the protests have rippled through the auto industry on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border.
In a bulletin to local and state law enforcement officers, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned that it has received reports of similar protests being planned in the United States.
The agency said the protests could begin in Southern California as early as this weekend and potentially spread to Washington around the State of the Union address in March.
Between Jan. 18 through Thursday, Fox News Channel has devoted 10 hours and 8 minutes of airtime to the story, according to the liberal watchdog Media Matters for America, which frequently criticizes the network.
And it's not just Fox.
Ben Shapiro of The Daily Wire said on his show, sitting in front of a headline that said Canadians were “fed up” with Trudeau, that mandates had to stop. The protesters are particularly upset about a requirement that all truck drivers entering the country be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. An estimated 90 percent of Canadian truckers already are.
“Nobody wants giant bridges shut down,” Shapiro said. “Obstructing traffic is bad no matter what you are protesting for. However, the cause of this protest happens to be righteous.”
The lead story on the Red State website for a time Thursday was headlined, “East Bound and Down: US Truck Convoy is Being Planned, Could Be Headed to DC.” Reporter Sarah Lee mocked a “very silly” piece in Politico that included a quote from an analyst who works for a think tank that tracks extremism, who noted worrying parallels to the buildup before the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection.
Hannity's support for what Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford has called an occupation comes after months where he decried violence and destruction of property at some Black Lives Matter protests in the United States.
The difference, Hannity asserted, is the Canadian “Freedom Convoy” is peaceful. On Monday, Hannity interviewed a reporter from the conservative website Rebel News, who described the Ottawa protest site as a “family environment” and “like a Canada Day festival every day.”
The protests have been largely peaceful, although some residents have complained of harassment and there is an arson investigation tied to one incident. Shapiro said critics of the truckers are guilty of “nutpacking,” or focusing on a crazed person and linking them to the entire protest movement.
It's a familiar tactic in politics: pointing to a more extreme position held by a member of an opposition party and saying it represents everyone.
Lara Trump, the former U.S. president's daughter-in-law and a Fox News contributor, offered her support for the truckers on Hannity's show Tuesday.
“Right here in America, people are cheering them on, because this is about freedom,” she said.
In a lengthy monologue on his show this week, Carlson suggested that it was inconsistent for the “intellectual elite” to largely support protest movements started by workers yet oppose this one. He said that many times trends start in the United States and move to Canada, but this time the opposite could happen.
“The trucker convoy in Canada is pretty cool,” he said. “People getting together to promote human rights. Who's against that?”
David Bauder, The Associated Press
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