Some truck drivers who support former President Donald Trump said they are refusing loads to New York City to protest the civil fraud judgment there that fined Trump $355 million last week.
In a video shared Friday on X by a driver known as Chicago Ray, the trucker said he had spoken to other truck drivers who also said they would refuse loads to the city.
“I’ve been on the radio talking to drivers for the last hour, hour-15 minutes. I’ve talked to at least 10 drivers. They’re going to start refusing loads in New York City starting Monday,” said Chicago Ray, who has 241,000 followers on X.
On Monday morning, Chicago Ray posted another video on X reiterating his support for Trump and boycotting loads to New York.
“I’m not going to encourage you, but if New York City is going to have a judge’s ruling like they’re ruling … I’m just saying I stand with Trump. I’m one of the millions of truckers that stand with Trump,” Chicago Ray said.
The call to boycott loads to New York City comes after Judge Arthur Engoron’s verdict on Friday that ordered Trump to pay $355 million in damages in the fraud case brought by the New York’s attorney general office. The judge also ruled that Trump is barred from doing business in New York for three years, and his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are barred for two years.
Trump posted support for the boycott on several social media platforms, including X and Truth Social.
It’s unclear how widespread the boycott will be or what impact it might have on deliveries to the city.
Chicago Ray’s videos seemed to gain some traction. His original video had over 7 million views but was deleted over the weekend. As of Monday morning, “Boycott NYC” and “Truckers for Trump” were trending on X.
Chicago Ray isn’t the only truck driver who has voiced opposition to the civil fraud ruling.
“I vow that I will not make one delivery to New York. NONE! Who’s with me? Truckers for Trump!” an account called The Disrespected Trucker tweeted on Friday.
Zayy The Truck Driver also posted on X that he would not be making deliveries to New York City.
“I’ve been to NYC plenty of times, running shuttle routes from Atlanta to several breweries in NYC and Brooklyn. I stopped for two reasons; hellish driving and Covid restrictions, and now I have more reasons to never return there,” Zayy wrote. “I say this with absolute conviction, when the government continues to impose regulations on truckers, I don’t want to hear from you truckers who believe this boycott will do nothing.”
If the trucker’s boycott takes hold, it would show up in FreightWaves’ SONAR platform in several key data points.
SONAR’s outbound tender reject index would show a tightening of capacity for loads originating from New York, while the inbound tender reject index would show a tightening of capacity for loads headed into New York.
SONAR’s TRAC lane rate for Columbus, Ohio, to New York City would also show an increase in the average price per mile to move a dry van.
The inbound and outbound tender reject indexes, and the TRAC rate for Columbus to New York City, show nothing as of noon on Monday.
Jane
YES. Peaceful resistance. YES.
Claude Robert
Keep on trucking, we do this job because we love our job and we like to move goods around the country.
What we want, politician capable of protecting our future, our highways and our economy. Politics and politicians are too often, non sense. Time is coming where a young, humble, dynamic and dynamic President will take place.
JoseVR
SEEMS IT IS WAY OVERDUE FOR RED AMERICA TO DELIVER BLOODLESS SHOCK-THERAPY TO BLUE AMERICA … – which has turned into FASCIST AMERICA! …
… RED COUNTIES, IF THEY WISH, CAN EASILY BAND TOGETHER AND QUICKLY BOYCOTT & STARVE BLUE COUNTIES!
(NOTE: A) Counties, NOT States … i.e., California is a hyper-Blue State, BUT most of its counties are Red; B) Always consider on PER CAPITA basis … i.e. ‘debt/income per capita … or California has a large GDP per capita, BUT it is canceled by its DEBT per capita.)
… ECONOMIC FACTS: Per the World-accredited Mercatus Economic Research Center, of George Mason University, which specializes in evaluating the short- and long-term economic, financial, and fiscal health of States …
* Top 10 States in BEST short- & long-term economic, financial, and fiscal health – REPUBLICAN.
* Top 10 States in WORST short- & long-term economic, financial, and fiscal health – DEMOCRAT.
Example: CA, with nearly 1.1 TRILLION in Public Employees Pensions are approximately 38% UNDERFUNDED! … THANKFULLY, SCOTUS, decades ago, ruled that Public Pensions of States CANNOT be bailed out by the Federal Government; by Federal Taxpayers!
* KEY: NEARLY 90% OF ALL PRODUCTS AND NEARLY 100% OF ALL FOOD ARE NOW PRODUCED IN RED COUNTIES.
(Guess those in Blue Counties will also have to change their stance on the 2nd Amendment and go out hunting for food.)
RC
Non-news nonsense. Why is this even posted here? And why on earth would you give this dude more platform to shoot video while he’s rolling down the road?
D
I wonder where these guys were on January 6th.
Jody King
It is sad that honest, hardworking drivers still support someone like Trump. Ask yourself, what has Trump, or any politician in the current climate, done for you lately. Punishing other people because Trump was rightfully fined just makes you look stupid.
BDM
The people upset with the ruling against Trump are just like everyone else who is upset at a ruling. What they’re really saying is, they don’t like the U S form of government, especially the judicial system. However, none of them can offer any kind of a solution other than to cry that they didn’t get their way. Do things always go the way anyone wants all the time – no. Grow up and realize that we’re a country with differences and you can’t always have it your way. Are there things wrong, absolutely, but the country has forgotten how to compromise and work together. It’s all about getting what they want. I believe it’s the minority of Americans that can’t grasp the definition of compromise: “an agreement or a settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions; an ability to listen to two sides in a dispute, and devise a compromise acceptable to both.”
Scott Geiser
Wild how stories like this travel through so many media outlets so quickly. When your done reading it you’re wondering why you wasted your time since it’s a non-story overall & the title of the story is leading us to believe something has already happened and going down currently. And when politics are being played within the freight moving world it usually never benefits the drivers. Just puts a light on people who may have a difference of opinion politically so we can report about what they are saying. Drivers and transportation professionals deserve better. Not to be used at pawns.