Sean Hannity, Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity cheered on the truckers while showing four live reports from Ottawa this Week. Tucker Carlson’s online shop sells “I (heart?) Tucker” T-shirts that are edited to say “I(heart) Truckers”.
Hannity said to Sara Carter, Fox reporter, “Send our support, solidarity, love, and support for all of the brave persons who are there,” Hannity stated on Thursday. Carter was in Ottawa with protesters. “Don’t give up.”
Canadian protesters are protesting the vaccine mandates for truckers, COVID-19 restrictions, and railing against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. However many of Canada’s infection measures are being rapidly lifted as the omicron surge level off. The five-day blockade disrupted the flow between the U.S. & Canada and caused the auto industry to halt production on both sides.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin to state and local law enforcement officers warning that it had received reports of similar protests in the United States.
According to the agency, the protests could start in Southern California as soon as this weekend and spread to Washington in the wake of the State of the Union address in march.
According to Media Matters for America (a liberal watchdog that regularly criticizes Fox News Channel), Fox News Channel devoted 10 hours and eight minutes to the story from Jan. 18 to Thursday.
Senior Canadian officials said that Fox’s coverage of the protests in Canada has “fanned flames and contributed misinformation.”
The official spoke under condition of anonymity as they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. “The Canadian media doesn’t repeat the same misinformation as the U.S media.”
Ben Shapiro, of The Daily Wire, stated that mandates must be stopped while he was sitting in front a headline that claimed Canadians are fed up with Trudeau. Protesters are especially upset by a requirement that all truck drivers entering Canada be fully vaccinated against coronavirus. An estimated 90% of Canadian truckers are already fully vaccinated.
Shapiro stated, “Nobody wants huge bridges to be shut down.” No matter what cause you are, blocking traffic is bad. But, the cause of this protest is righteous.”
Red State website ‘s lead story was headlined “East Bounding and Down: US Truck Convoy Is Being Planned, Could be Headed to DC.” Sarah Lee ridiculed a Politico article that featured a quote from an analyst working for a think-tank that tracks extremism. The analyst noted worrying parallels with the buildup to the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol Insurrection.
Hannity’s support of what Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford calls an occupation follows months in which he denounced violence and destruction at Black Lives Matter protests.
Hannity claimed that the Canadian Freedom Convoy is peaceful. Hannity interviewed a reporter for the conservative website Rebel News on Monday. He described the Ottawa protest site to Hannity as a “family atmosphere” and “like Canada Day festivals every day.”
Although the protests were peaceful, some residents complained of harassment. There is also an arson investigation related to one incident. Shapiro claimed that critics of truckers are guilty “nutpacking,” which is focusing on one person and linking them with the whole protest movement.
This is a well-known tactic in politics: Pointing to an extreme position held by members of an opposition party and claiming it represents everyone.
Lara Trump, the daughter-in-law of the former U.S. President and a Fox News contributor, offered support to the truckers on Hannity’s Tuesday show.
She said, “Right here, Americans are cheering them on because this is about liberty.”
Carlson said in a long monologue that he felt it was odd for the “intellectual” elite to support workers’ protest movements but oppose this one. While he said that trends often start in the United States, and then move to Canada, this time it could be the reverse.
He said, “The trucker convoy in Canada was pretty cool.” “People coming together to support human rights. “Who’s against this?”
