Local • Perspective

The trucker ‘convoy’ is demanding our attention. But what do they want?



Bob Bolus of Scranton, Pa., drives his semi leading a “Freedom Convoy” in Pittston Township, Pa., on Feb. 23. (Christopher Dolan/The Times-Tribune/AP)

By Petula Dvorak
Columnist
Today at 9:48 a.m. EST

The National Guard has been activated, state police are on high alert, snow trucks are positioned to thwart the invasion, and Capitol Hill is full of unmarked cars parked in strategic spots and waiting. ... A crisis has erupted overseas. But these measures — and the millions of dollars they will cost us — have nothing to do with Vladimir Putin. ... Bob Bolus and his four trucks are coming.

With the international gaze fixed on Ukraine, Bolus decided to launch his own war — in our backyard. ... “We’re going to put a stranglehold on D.C.,” said Bolus, 79, a bloviating Trump supporter from Scranton, Pa., known for the boldly decorated, pro-Trump big rig that he steers into the sightline of any camera he can find.

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“They don’t have enough cops, enough people to stop us,” Bolus told me from his rest stop in Harrisburg, Pa., on his way to D.C. “We’re going to shut the Beltway down.” ... Which is pretty funny. Because we do a fine job of shutting down the Beltway with gridlock on our own, twice a day, nearly every day.

Inspired by the truckers “convoying” in Canada (at least one of whom told a judge he “thought it was a peaceful protest and based on my first amendment,” forgetting he is not American), groups of American truckers are planning convoys across the nation to D.C. to demand their rights.

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By Petula Dvorak
Petula is a columnist for The Post's local team who writes about homeless shelters, gun control, high heels, high school choirs, the politics of parenting, jails, abortion clinics, mayors, modern families, strip clubs and gas prices, among other things. Before coming to The Post, she covered social issues, crime and courts. Twitter https://twitter.com/petulad