Chapter 85: Vaccine Discrimination?

326      “Let me say, the Canadian truckers . . .”  Senator Ted Cruz, “Sen. Cruz on Fox News: GoFundMe Is ‘Deceiving Consumers and It Is Wrong.’” YouTube, February 6, 2022, youtu.be/Sj-4R74k1Xk?si=ifI349tqqJmaIVS8, 6:17–6:24.
 
326      “These are people that are fighting for freedom”  Ron Johnson quoted in Isabella Murray and Beatrice Peterson, “GOP Sens. Cruz and Johnson Meet with ‘People’s Convoy’ Truckers,” ABC News, March 8, 2022, abcnews.go.com/Politics/gop-sens-cruz-johnson-meet-convoy-truckers/story?id=83317981.
 
326      “genius idea”  Donald Trump Jr. quoted in Andy Blatchford and Zi-Ann Lum, “‘Risky and Significant’: Canadian Capital Braces for Trucker Protests,” Politico, January 28, 2022, www.politico.com/news/2022/01/28/risky-and-significant-canadian-capital-braces-for-trucker-protests-pro-00003364.
 
326      “support these truckers . . . fighting as patriots”  Donald Trump Jr. quoted in Blatchford and Lum, “‘Risky and Significant’: Canadian Capital Braces for Trucker Protests,” www.politico.com/news/2022/01/28/risky-and-significant-canadian-capital-braces-for-trucker-protests-pro-00003364.
 
326      “for the American people to declare independence . . .”  “Former President Trump Texas Rally,” C-SPAN, video, January 29, 2022, http://www.c-span.org/program/public-affairs-event/former-president-trump-texas-rally/607623, 30:28–31:27.
 
326      expressing their hope . . . similar convoy in the United States  “Rand Paul says he hopes trucker protests disrupt Super Bowl and come to DC,” CNN, February 12, 2022, www.cnn.com/2022/02/12/politics/rand-paul-trucker-protests-america/index.html; and Gino Spocchia, “Donald Trump Jr Encourages American Truckers to Follow Canada’s Lead as Border Blocked for Fourth Day,” The Independent, February 1, 2022, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-jr-truckers-convoy-canada-b2005071.html.
 
326      assembled . . . at Maryland’s Hagerstown Speedway Julio-cesar Chavez, “‘People’s Convoy’ Truck Protest Targets Washington, Slows Traffic,” Reuters, March 6, 2022, www.reuters.com/world/us/peoples-convoy-truck-protest-drives-laps-around-washington-2022-03-06.
 
326       made a two-mile-long convoy and slowly drove . . . sixty-four-mile . . .  Chavez, “‘People’s Convoy’ Truck Protest Targets Washington, Slows Traffic,” www.reuters.com/world/us/peoples-convoy-truck-protest-drives-laps-around-washington-2022-03-06; and Ellie Silverman, “Trucker Convoy Returns to D.C. Region: Here’s What You Need to Know,” Washington Post, updated May 17, 2022, www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/05/17/peoples-convoy-returns-hagerstown-speedway.
 
326      “This convoy aims to bring back our freedoms” The People’s Convoy—Official, “About,” Facebook, accessed April 22, 2025, www.facebook.com/groups/2711696262309046/about.
 
326      “has forgotten its place and has no regard . . .”  The People’s Convoy—Official, “About,” www.facebook.com/groups/2711696262309046/about.
 
327      rode shotgun . . . outside the Capitol building Ellie Silverman et al., “Sen. Cruz Rides with ‘People’s Convoy’ Truck to D.C. as Beltway Protest Enters Fourth Day,” Washington Post, updated March 10, 2022, www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/03/10/peoples-convoy-protest-ted-cruz. 
 
327      “I’m proud to stand with them”  Ted Cruz quoted in Silverman et al., “Sen. Cruz Rides with ‘People’s Convoy’ Truck to D.C. as Beltway Protest Enters Fourth Day,” www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/03/10/peoples-convoy-protest-ted-cruz. 
 
327      left the area at the end of the month  Ellie Silverman, “Truck Convoy Leaves D.C. Area After Weeks of Traffic-Snarling Protests,” Washington Post, updated March 31, 2022, www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/03/31/dc-trucker-convoy-leaves-protest.
 
327       joined . . . “Convoy to Canberra” . . .  Aidan Wondracz and Peter Vincent, “Pauline Hanson Joins up to Ten Thousand Anti-Vaccine Mandate ‘Convoy to Canberra’ Protesters Swarming Parliament House—as Three Are Arrested Including Man Who ‘Drove a Truck Through a Roadblock,’” Daily Mail, February 11, 2022, updated February 12, 2022, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10504613/Pauline-Hanson-attends-anti-vaccine-rally-Canberra-Parliament-House.html.
 
327      About 10,000 people . . . for two weeks . . .  Ellen Francis and Annabelle Timsit, “‘Freedom Convoy’ in Canada Inspires Vaccine-Mandate Protests from France to New Zealand,” updated February 14, 2022, www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/09/freedom-convoy-protests-australia-new-zealand-europe. 
 
327      “We’ve been controlled by the politicians”  Paulin Hanson quoted in Wondracz and Vincent, “Pauline Hanson joins up to ten thousand anti-vaccine mandate ‘Convoy to Canberra’ protesters swarming Parliament House - as three are arrested including man who ‘drove a truck through a roadblock,’” www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10504613/Pauline-Hanson-attends-anti-vaccine-rally-Canberra-Parliament-House.html.
 
327      “I’m here as an Australian fighting . . .”  Pauline Hanson quoted in Wondracz and Vincent, “Pauline Hanson Joins up to Ten Thousand Anti-Vaccine Mandate ‘Convoy to Canberra’ Protesters Swarming Parliament House—as Three Are Arrested Including Man Who ‘Drove a Truck Through a Roadblock,’” www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10504613/Pauline-Hanson-attends-anti-vaccine-rally-Canberra-Parliament-House.html.
 
327      “my legislation to end vaccine discrimination!”  Pauline Hanson, “CONVOY TO CANBERRA HAS SENT A POWERFUL MESSAGE! . . .” Facebook, February 13, 2022, www.facebook.com/PaulineHansonAu/videos/pauline-hanson-supports-the-convoy-to-canberra/362395362110748, archived at Wayback Machine, February 10, 2026 capture, web.archive.org/web/20260210165607/https://www.facebook.com/PaulineHansonAu/videos/pauline-hanson-supports-the-convoy-to-canberra/362395362110748. 
 
327      thousands . . . “Freedom Movement” camped . . . more than three weeks  Charlie Mitchell, “‘An Awakening’: How the Freedom Movement Found Its Man in Winston Peters,” The Press, October 6, 2023, www.thepress.co.nz/politics/350084986/awakening-how-freedom-movement-found-its-man-winston-peters; AP, “New Zealand Convoy Clogs Streets Near Parliament to Protest Vaccine Mandates,” NPR, February 9, 2022, www.npr.org/2022/02/09/1079506355/new-zealand-protest-vaccine-mask-mandates; and Damien Cave, “How Covid’s Bitter Divisions Tarnished a Liberal Icon,” New York Times, January 19, 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/01/19/world/asia/jacinda-ardern-resigns-covid.html.
 
327      protesting COVID restrictions and vaccine mandates  AP,   “New Zealand Convoy Clogs Streets Near Parliament to Protest Vaccine Mandates,” www.npr.org/2022/02/09/1079506355/new-zealand-protest-vaccine-mask-mandates.
 
327      “The freedom convoy heading to parliament represents . . .”  Winston Peters, Twitter, February 7, 2022, 5:52 p.m., x.com/winstonpeters/status/1490820679838552065, archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/osetF.
 
327      visited the encampments Tess McClure, “NZ’s Former Deputy PM Banned from Parliament for Visiting Anti-Vaccine-Mandate Protest,” The Guardian, May 3, 2022, www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/03/nzs-former-deputy-pm-banned-from-parliament-for-visiting-anti-vaccine-mandate-protest.
 
327      “misrepresented and gaslighted”  Winston Peters quoted in Stewart Sowman-Lund, “Winston Peters: Protesters Have Been ‘Misrepresented and Gaslighted,’” Spinoff, February 23, 2022, accessed via Wayback Machine, September 13, 2024 capture, web.archive.org/web/20240913074409/https://thespinoff.co.nz/live-updates/23-02-2022/a-subtle-change-to-how-we-report-the-daily-covid-numbers.   
 
327      banned . . . from entering Vienna  Agence France Presse   “Austrian Police Ban ‘Freedom Convoy’ from Vienna,” Barron’s, February 10, 2022, www.barrons.com/news/austrian-police-ban-freedom-convoy-from-vienna-01644516607; and Nikolaus J. Kurmayer, “Vienna Bans Canada-Style ‘Freedom Convoy,’” Euractiv, February 11, 2022, www.euractiv.com/section/politics/short_news/vienna-bans-canada-style-freedom-convoy.
 
327      ignored the ban and rolled into the city Herbert Kickl, “Representatives of the coronavirus regime . . .” Facebook, video, February 12, 2022, www.facebook.com/herbertkickl/videos/freedom-convoy-austria-der-freiheits-konvoi-rollte-durch-wien/478060163877933, via Google Translate.
 
327      “Protest cannot be banned”  Kickl, “Representatives of the coronavirus regime . . .” www.facebook.com/herbertkickl/videos/freedom-convoy-austria-der-freiheits-konvoi-rollte-durch-wien/478060163877933.
 
327–328 defied a ban to enter Paris . . . vaccine passport  Layli Foroudi, “The Transatlantic Network Connecting France’s ‘Freedom Convoy’ to Canada,” Reuters, February 21, 2022, www.reuters.com/world/transatlantic-network-connecting-frances-freedom-convoy-canada-2022-02-21.
 
328      urged the convoy . . . make their voices heard “Macron Calls for Calm as Convoy of Protestors Nears Paris,” BBC News, February 11, 2022, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60354808.
 
328      Dozens. . . Arc de Triomphe. Some waved Canadian flags Constant Méheut, “An Anti-Vaccine Convoy Forms in France, Mimicking Canada’s Protesters,” New York Times, February 9, 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/02/09/world/canada/france-anti-vaccine-convoy.html; and Layli Foroudi, “The Transatlantic Network Connecting France’s ‘Freedom Convoy’ to Canada,” Reuters, February 21, 2022, www.reuters.com/world/transatlantic-network-connecting-frances-freedom-convoy-canada-2022-02-21.
 
328      used tear gas . . . arrested more than fifty people  Foroudi, “The Transatlantic Network Connecting France’s ‘Freedom Convoy’ to Canada,” www.reuters.com/world/transatlantic-network-connecting-frances-freedom-convoy-canada-2022-02-21.
 
328      amassed more than 300,000 members in a few days  Méheut, “An Anti-Vaccine Convoy Forms in France, Mimicking Canada’s Protesters,” www.nytimes.com/2022/02/09/world/canada/france-anti-vaccine-convoy.html.
 
328      92 percent . . . vaccinated against COVID-19  Méheut, “An Anti-Vaccine Convoy Forms in France, Mimicking Canada’s Protesters,” www.nytimes.com/2022/02/09/world/canada/france-anti-vaccine-convoy.html.