The People’s Convoy Now Claims They’ll Silently Ambush D.C.
The so-called “People’s Convoy” now seeks a rematch against the Washington, D.C. area after the right-wing truckers spent weeks aimlessly circling the freeway before giving up and heading back home.
This time around, 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, now claim they will 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.”
“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.
People’s Convoy Gives Up, Will Leave D.C. After 3 Weeks of Doing Absolutely Nothing
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 has an exit plan out of D.C. proper, Riddell said he has no desire to leave the area once the trucker crew is inside city limits.
“We are going to stay,” he confidently replied. “We don’t have no exit plan.”
When reached for comment, the Metropolitan Police Department said it would not discuss the convoy’s supposed plans to silently ambush the city. Instead, Officer Sean Hickman wrote: “We do not discuss operational tactics.”
Last week, ahead of the convoy’s return to the area, Metro Police public affairs specialist Brianna Burch told The Daily Beast: “MPD continues to enforce all traffic laws in the city and is taking appropriate enforcement action against those who break laws in the District of Columbia.”
This latest cockamamie 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 may 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!”
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