In a show of support of questionable political value, pro-Trump demonstrators clogged freeways Sunday across the country, from blue states like New Jersey, New York, and Washington state, to red-leaning Texas and purple Arizona. “WHOOO! We shut it down baby! We shut it down!” says one pro-Trump videographer as he pans the camera nearly 360 degrees, showing viewers the group of cars that had brought traffic to a complete standstill along the northbound Garden State Parkway in New Jersey.
“You suck, you suck, everyone on the right lane sucks,” nearby driver Maddy Pryor says in another video capturing the incident, which Pryor posted to Twitter. Another user named @kabryant17 claimed the stoppage caused emergency personnel to take a delayed route to the hospital, as the pro-Trump demonstration blocked an entire freeway exit.
In neighboring New York, Trump supporter Abigail Marone captured a line of cars and trucks with pro-Trump and at least one pro-law enforcement Thin Blue Line flag on the route between Seaford and Montauk in Long Island. Using the hashtag #TrumpTrain, users also captured Trump supporters driving along New York State Route 25 and claimed to see a similar lineup on Route 106 in Hicksville.
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In Maryland, The Daily Beast witnessed another line of cars carrying pro-Trump flags on Sunday. Reports of a pro-Trump caravan in another historically blue state also emerged early Sunday afternoon when business reporter Lauren Arevalo-Downes spotted a line of pro-Trump drivers in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena.
Throughout the day, the president’s supporters uploaded videos of caravans of vehicles flying large ‘Trump 2020’ flags under the hashtag #MAGADragTheInterstate on Sunday. At least one Texas car sported a flag with a Rambo-esque Trump cradling an assault rifle, while another displayed the Gadsden “Don’t Tread On Me’ banner, which has historically been linked to Confederate nostalgia and the Klan.
On the ground in Virginia, Daily News-Record journalist Ian Munro captured a pro-Trump caravan in a Richmond roundabout where a shot rang out, injuring a counter-protester on foot who was later assessed by emergency technicians. Counter-protesters burned Confederate flags they had taken from pro-Trump vehicles in the roundabout, which houses a statue of Robert E. Lee, late Sunday afternoon as police closed the thoroughfare.
The injured counter-protester was later identified as Frank Hunt, who declined to comment if he had helped take Trump 2020 signs from cars. Hunt described how a person rolled their windows down and fired a gun at him. “This shit grazed me by my ear, dog,” Hunt told Munro, explaining that his injured hand, visibly bandaged in the video, was from falling as a result. “To the driver, to the passengers, to everybody who tried to kill me: I forgive you, but I'll never forget it. We gonna kill you love with hate, and that’s how we gonna ride.”
Trump supporters also ambushed a Biden-Harris campaign event Friday in Austin, Texas, surrounding one campaign bus and allegedly attempting to drive it off the road. The president praised the Texas drivers after the disturbing incident, tweeting the video and remarking, “I LOVE TEXAS!”
