President Trump Speaks Out About D.C. Rally, Says Truckers Are Being “Price Gouged”

Washington D.C. – On Friday morning during a telephone interview on Fox News, President Donald Trump spoke out about the ongoing trucker rally in the nation’s capital and said he believes truckers are being “price gouged.”

In his first public comments about the truckers rallying in D.C. since a tweet last Sunday night pledging his support, President Trump addressed the issue of plummeting freight rates for small business truckers amid the COVID-19 recession.

“Everything in front of us, our paper, our water bottles, our pencils, our phones are delivered on a truck, and you tweeted about American truckers being price gouged, what are you going to do about that?” Ainsley Earhardt of Fox & Friends asked the President.

Here is Mr. Trump’s entire answer in context.

“Oh they are price gouged. In fact, they were in front of the White House. We had, must have been, looked like a thousand trucks. They were honking, honking, and then uh, I actually sent representatives out. It was very funny, they were honking all day and they’re great people and they’re people that like me. They like Trump. They’ve got Trump all over their trucks. They’re like the farmers, all they want is to be treated fairly and we’re going to treat them fairly. You know what they’re asking is almost nothing in many cases so I sent my people out to see them. I even brought out some red hats for them, right. I said ‘USA Strong,’ I kept it not-so political, but you know they’re great people. They’re great, great people and they’re successful. You know they have these big beautiful trucks and they want them made in the USA. They’re not asking for much. They want to be treated fairly, so we’re handling the truckers. We’re going to take care of that.”

Transportation Nation Network (TNN) will have much more analysis on these comments in the coming days, but first, let’s remember how we got here.

How Did We Get Here?

Dozens of trucks have been parked near the White House for more than a week now in what has become a mission by demonstrators to ensure the voices of the American truck driver are heard.

The rally began last Friday, May 1, as part of the MayDay demonstrations in cities across the country.

It was intended to be a three-day rally for the expressed purpose of bringing awareness to low freight rates being offered to small business truckers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

After close to 100 truckers rolled into Washington D.C. on Friday, May 1, and then lined Constitution Avenue near the South Lawn of the White House to sound their MayDay call to President Trump, the leader of the free world responded.

In a tweet last Sunday evening, President Trump wrote, “I’m with the TRUCKERS all the way. Thanks for the meeting at the White House with my representatives from the Administration. It is all going to work out well!”

In fact, Mr. Trump even sent two White House staffers to deliver gifts — red and blue hats branded “USA Strong” and “Keep America Great” — and a message directly to the truckers.

“I’ve got a message from the boss. He said he supports you guys 100 percent,” Shawn Mcintosh, one of the rally organizers told TNN the President’s aides told the group.

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Multiple other people present at the time told TNN the staffers indicated the President was interested in talking with members of the group and would “work on the meeting.”

TNN has repeatedly confirmed this week that the White House has had no further contact with the group.

In Mr. Trump’s interview Friday morning he did not indicate a meeting with rally organizers is forthcoming.

Conspicuously silent on the entire event has been the United States Department of Transportation (DOT).

Secretary Elaine Chao and Jim Mullen, Acting Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), have yet to publicly comment about the rally or a possible meeting between the truckers and the President.

TNN has asked the FMCSA if DOT leaders would encourage or discourage the President from sitting down with rally organizers, but the Agency has declined to directly answer that question.

Stay logged on to TransportationNation.com for the latest developments on this ongoing story.

WATCH video of President Trump’s comments below.