Trump Claims Constant Honking Throughout His Vaccine Announcement Was a ‘Sign of Love’ — It Wasn’t
Loud honks rang throughout President Donald Trump’s coronavirus vaccine press briefing on Friday, and while the president believed the sounds were “the sign of love,” they actually came from truck drivers protesting low freight rates.
“And you hear that outside? That beautiful sound? Those are truckers that are with us all the way,” Trump said. “They’re protesting in favor of President Trump as opposed to against.”
Editor of Press Watch Dan Froomkin took to Twitter to reveal that the truck drivers were protesting low freight rates outside of the White House — not showing their support for the president:
Truckers outside WH are protesting low freight rates, not pro Trump. Organizer: “This is our distress call to our commander in chief to address the problems we are facing. He has called us heroes — his heroes need his help now.” https://t.co/yAkU495vYT
— Dan Froomkin/PressWatchers.org (@froomkin) May 15, 2020
“The American truck driver needs help, and we need it now,” Rick Santiago, who organized a similar protest earlier this month, told The Washington Post. “This is our distress call to our commander in chief to address the problems we are facing. He has called us heroes — his heroes need his help now.”
Many truck drivers claim to be suffering, as the industry did not receive financial support from Congress’ latest round of stimulus negotiations.
The president thanked the truck drivers for showing their support and claimed they would be helping with the U.S. search for a vaccine.
“There are hundreds of trucks out there and that’s the sign of love, not the sign of your typical protest,” Trump added. “So I want to thank our great truckers. They like me and I like them, we’re working on something together.”
The honks continued throughout the entire press briefing and only got louder once Trump began taking questions.
Watch above, via Fox News.
