The so-called “People’s Convoy” has retreated from plans to silently ambush the Washington, D.C. area after the right-wing truckers spent weeks aimlessly circling the freeway before giving up and heading back home.
The increasingly violent truckers, who initially made the trek to D.C. in March to protest vaccine mandates, among other MAGA grievances, only to retreat with their vehicular tails between their legs, had claimed they would stealthily ambush the nation’s capital on Thursday afternoon.
“Get ready to move in about 15-20 minutes when I tell you to,” convoy leader David Riddell, aka “Santa,” told fellow convoy-goers on Wednesday night as the sun went down over their Hagerstown, Maryland encampment. “Be back here at four o’clock in the afternoon [on Thursday] and be ready to roll at a moment’s notice.”
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“You guys are the new minutemen. When we roll out of here at night, [there] will be complete and total radio silence,” he continued. “There will be five people that know what we’re doing and know the route we are taking.”
Riddell is the newly appointed convoy leader after Brian Brase bailed on the group to return to his home in Northern Ohio. “Complete and total radio silence,” the new leader emphasized once more, demanding that as part of this silent blitzkrieg his fellow convoy truckers—who have incessantly livestreamed their activity—cut their feeds when they travel into D.C. on Thursday.
Although convoy-goers aimlessly circled the Beltway on Wednesday afternoon and got stuck in rush-hour traffic, Riddell claimed he had conducted a “covert” reconnaissance mission ahead of their ambush. “This is the day we waited for,” he added.
Asked by one supporter on Wednesday evening whether the convoy had an exit plan out of D.C. proper, Riddell said he had no desire to leave the area once the trucker crew was inside city limits.
“We are going to stay,” he confidently replied. “We don’t have no exit plan.”
By Friday afternoon, however, the group had failed to go through with their plan to ambush the city and subsequently surrendered.
“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,” the group wrote in a press release. “We will be exiting Hagerstown Speedway within 7 days.”
The ending of the convoy didn't sit well with at least one convoy-streamer.
“You have families that were mislead across the nation,” the streamer said. “What happened here is beyond ridiculous.”
The failed scheme comes as the inept trucker group deals with apparent tension within its ranks. The organization’s top livestreamers, with the handles Trucker G and Sasnak, both left the group this week with some members suggesting in Telegram chats that the pair had quit over disputes with leadership.
Even though Riddell has repeatedly implored the truckers not to bring any firearms into city limits, the group‘s willingness to take up more extreme measures beyond circling the Beltway has left some supporters fretting about the potential for violent confrontations.
During a Wednesday afternoon livestream, Trucker G read aloud one such fan’s comment expressing worry that the group might become overtly hostile.
“I see several people leaning towards violence,” the user wrote, prompting the YouTubing trucker to remark: “I hope not. As soon as they take this violently, it’s going to throw everything they’re trying to accomplish, it’s going to throw it away.”
As of 9:30 on Thursday evening, a Metropolitan Police Department officer told The Daily Beast that the convoy hadn’t even left the Hagerstown, Maryland area, an hour and a half away from the capitol. Back at their camp there, a fight broke out just before 10, with a woman alleging a man had punched her husband in the face. “Get the fuck out of our campsite,” the woman yelled. “Get out of our campsite!”
