As thousands of federal employees wonder where their next paycheck is coming from amid a government shutdown, around 3,000 truckers plan to descend on Washington, D.C., in an effort to shut it down further by not hauling freight for a whole weekend.
“The shutdown is actually a traffic jam,” former country music star and event organizer Zeeda Andrews told U.S. News. “This is a three-day traffic jam.”
According to Ms. Andrews, there are two reasons the truckers are striking.
“The first is a range of frustrations experienced by independent truck drivers not employed by a large company or affiliated with a union,” U.S. News reported.
But truckers are also targeting the Obama administration. A list addressing “corruption against our Constitution” and demands that the president be removed from office will be delivered to lawmakers before the ride, the organizer told the paper, and lawmakers can call off the protest if they agree to them.
“Obama said last week it’s my way or the highway, and the people are choosing the highway,” Ms. Andrews said. “It’s viral, it’s like a fire, it’s burning out of control [and] people really want to help because their issues are the same as the truckers are having. … All Americans and all truckers agree on one thing: Barack Obama is a threat to American safety.”
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In order to comply with D.C. regulations, truckers entering the district will “bobtail” their vehicles, meaning they will first detach their cargo trailers, U.S. News reported.
“The bobtailers will be leading the charge,” the organizer said. “They will be flying their American flags and there will be [pro-Constitution] banners.”
A Facebook page for the event, titled “Truckers Ride For The Constitution,” has nearly 32,000 likes.
