InfoWars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Monday became the latest conservative figure to back a proposed trucker boycott of New York City following the ruling in Donald Trump's civil fraud trial.
New York City Judge Arthur Engoron, who oversaw the trial, ruled on Friday that the former president must pay $354.9 million in penalties after finding him liable for business fraud. New York Attorney General Letitia James had brought a suit that said Trump and his two adult sons Donald Jr. and Eric, The Trump Organization and two firm executives, Allen Weisselberg and Jeff McConney, fraudulently overstated the value of assets to deceive lenders. Trump has maintained his innocence.
In the wake of the ruling, the term "Boycott NYC" began to trend on social media as various Trump-supporting truckers urged each other to refuse to enter the city. As of Sunday, the term had been used in around 13,000 posts on X, previously known as Twitter.
On Monday morning, the proposed boycott got a signal boost on X from Jones, the prominent right-wing media figure and noted Trump supporter.
"The people have the power," Jones wrote. "Time to use it! Go Truckers!!"
Trump himself has not commented on the proposed boycott. Newsweek reached out to his office via email for comment on Monday morning. This story will be updated with any responses that are received.
On Friday, Engoron also barred Trump, Weisselberg and McConney from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in the state for three years. Donald Jr. and Eric were ordered to pay $4 million each and barred from doing business in New York for two years. Weisselberg was also ordered to pay $1 million. The Trump Organization is prevented from applying for loans in New York for three years.
Trump claims that the case was politically motivated and designed to hurt his chances in the 2024 presidential race, where he is still the frontrunner for the GOP nomination.
Trucker boycotts have become an increasingly popular idea on the right in the wake of the "Freedom Convoy" in Canada, in which a number of truckers in late 2021 through 2022 protested COVID-19 vaccine requirements for cross-border routes, eventually descending upon the capital city of Ottawa before being broken up. Attempts to mimic this movement in the U.S. have been largely unsuccessful, with a plan to blockade Washington, D.C., in 2022 in protest of vaccine mandates, among other things, failing to produce any impact.
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Thomas Kika is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in upstate New York. His focus is reporting on crime and national ... Read more
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