The ‘Trump Train’ Drivers Had Reason to Expect Impunity
In Texas on Friday, dozens of vehicles driven by supporters of President Donald Trump formed a “Trump Train” on Interstate 35, and several of them surrounded a Joe Biden campaign bus, slowing it and attempting to force it off the road. One viral video shows a truck with pro-Trump and Blue Lives Matter banners striking a Biden staffer’s vehicle. After the FBI announced an investigation of the coordinated operation, Trump thanked the perpetrators, declaring, “In my opinion, these patriots did nothing wrong.” Senator Marco Rubio of Florida added his support, asking spectators at a Trump rally, “Did you see it? All the cars on the road, we love what they did.”
The I-35 event was one of many this weekend in which convoys of Trump supporters demonstrated on the nation’s highways, in some cases stopping traffic on major interstates. In embracing the Texas operation, which led to the cancellation of three Democratic events, the Trump camp contributed to the mainstreaming of political intimidation few acts of violence so readily as those committed with a motor vehicle—even those done on purpose.
