In U.S. political embrace of Canadian truck convoys, some see racist double standard

Former President Donald Trump, who repeatedly called Black Lives Matter protesters 'thugs' and 'anarchists,' said there's 'a lot of respect' for the overwhelmingly white truckers who blocked streets in the Canadian capital and shut down border crossings with the U.S. to oppose COVID-19 restrictions.

To Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, the truckers who parked bumper to bumper are "heroes" fighting for a righteous cause. Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity sent "solidarity, love and support" to the drivers, who also defied police orders to clear Ottawa's streets and ignored a court order forbidding them from blaring their horns. GOP Sen. Rand Paul encouraged them to head south and "clog" streets in the U.S.

The embrace of the truckers by some of the nation's most prominent conservative voices has drawn new accusations of hypocrisy and allegations that GOP leaders apply a racist double standard to large protests, including the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol involving a mostly white crowd of Trump supporters.

Earlier this month, the Republican National Committee called the Jan. 6 attack "legitimate political discourse." But only months before the insurrection, Trump, Cruz and other conservatives excoriated protests against police brutality and racial injustice that were largely peaceful, with some instances of looting and unrest.

"This shows again that there is just an unequal right to express dissent in the United States," said Karen Pita Loor, a professor at Boston University's School of Law. She called conservatives' support "two-faced," saying that conservatives appear to support a white, conservative rights movement, but "when you have Black Lives Matter protesters on the street that are `thugs,' they scare you."