President Donald Trump insists truck drivers honking horns outside the White House are doing so in support of him, but frustrated truckers are telling a different story.
On Friday, multiple truckers offered clarity about the protests which have been taking place in Washington, D.C. since May 1.
According to CNN, Greg Anderson, a 33-year veteran truck driver, accused the president of lying on national television about the reason for the blaring horns.
In the wake of the pandemic, truckers expressed that they have become the victims of price gouging at the hands of freight brokerages. There has also been a shift in hauling rates, among other issues.
“This is a protest,” Anderson confirmed, adding, “Mr. Trump elaborated that we were here to support him. Our message to him would be this is a protest against bad regulation, broker transparency, truck insurance, so on and so forth.
He continued, “This is not here to support Trump. We’re here to get resolution and bring awareness to our problem and fix our problems.”
🇺🇸 Truckers blaring their horns outside the White House interrupted a press briefing by US President Donald #Trump, who welcomed their protest against low shipping rates during the #coronavirus pandemic https://t.co/LKpcjEBAbd pic.twitter.com/1uwBbqulE0
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) May 15, 2020
While it has been noted that some of the truckers spotted are Trump supporters, the protesters have reiterated that these demonstrations are not political rallies in favor of the president.
See footage of the protests below:
Michael Landis, a truck owner-operator who also serves as the chief executive of the United States Transportation Alliance non-profit group, also shed light on the problems truckers are facing.
“There are people here that in fact love Trump, there are people here that in fact do not,” Landis said.
He added, “This is about trying to get his attention so we can speak directly with him about a lot of issues we’re having here in the trucking industry, because we’ve tried other avenues and have been unsuccessful.”
Here’s a pic of the protesting, honking truckers you can hear during this Rose Garden presser. They are parked along Constitution. (Took this pic on my way home last night.) pic.twitter.com/sNZloRxR5T
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) May 15, 2020
The truck drivers’ push back follows two appearances on national television where Trump insisted the honking horns were in support of his presidency because they like the job he’s doing.
During Friday’s press briefing, Trump addressed the blaring horns that could be heard from the Rose Garden, declaring the “beautiful sound” was a protest “in favor of President Trump.”
“You hear that outside, that beautiful sound — those are truckers that are with us all the way. They are protesting in favor of President Trump, as opposed to against,” Trump said.
“There’s hundreds of trucks out there, and that’s the sign of love. Not the sign of your typical protest. So I want to thank our great truckers. They like me and I like them.”
Truckers start honking in protest during Trump's address, and he says it's "a sign of love" and they're "protesting in favor of President Trump." The truckers are protesting low shipping rates during the pandemic, and have called for Trump to act https://t.co/Nj065D03oX pic.twitter.com/LlLO6sZW4p
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 15, 2020
During his Wednesday interview with Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo, he also claimed the trucker protesters were actually “supporters” of him.
“Trucking protesters, right?” Bartiromo asked.
Trump responded, “Well, they’re not protesters. They’re supporters of me.”
Despite Trump’s televised claims, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows walked out to meet with the protesters on Wednesday.
Meadows asked about their concerns and assured them, “The President has heard you, and he wants us to get something done.”
