Fox News personality Geraldo Rivera criticized his fellow Fox News employee Tomi Lahren for supporting the "Freedom Convoy" in Canada that has disrupted life in Ottawa, Ontario as well as other towns along the border.
The convoy, comprised of a minority of the country's truckers who've retaliated after the United States and Canada agreed to COVID-19 vaccine requirements for truckers to re-enter the country by land, has continued to garner headlines amid concerns that organizers and groups have been involved with white nationalist contingents, QAnon, and other far-right groups.
Rivera concluded that Lahren's statements are "appallingly naïve."
You can hear what he said in the video below.
Geraldo Rivera notes the convoys are blockading roads, harming other people\u2019s jobs, threatening people who oppose them.\n\nTomi Lahren calls that \u201cdemonization,\u201d calls for convoys here.\n\nReminder: Fox News has a double standard about protests blocking roads. https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-obvious-double-standard-protesters-blocking-traffic\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/LokY9n9M24— Eric Kleefeld (@Eric Kleefeld) 1644438084
Rivera accused Lahren of "whitewashing" the behavior of the protesters, who have inspired similar protests worldwide and have garnered criticism for blocking essential workers and emergency services from their jobs by shutting down highways.
He said:
"Their behavior has been nothing short of thuggish in Ottawa. They kept people in the neighborhood awake all night revving their engines, blowing their horns. They've deprived Ottawa of business, of tens of millions of dollars, now they're blockading the international bridges."
Rivera also pushed back when Lahren suggested that he would have called George Washington and Thomas Jefferson "thugs" and "degenerates" for the active roles they played during the American Revolution.
Rivera dismissed Lahren's accusations and expressed his exasperation that she would draw comparisons between the United States' founding fathers and the protesters whose efforts Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has referred to as "an insult to truth."
"What the hell is that about? They have been very destructive! 40 percent of Canada's trade goes over the bridge they have blocked!"
Many have criticized Lahren for her stance, particularly after she doubled down once news outlets highlghted the exchange.
Freedom? Didn't you say if Black people don't want to be killed by police that they should comply?https://twitter.com/TomiLahren/status/1491544908628385796\u00a0\u2026— Charles Cox \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Charles Cox \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1644518403
https://twitter.com/TomiLahren/status/1491544908628385796\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/SA9D1UaApE— \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\udf41Chris\ud83c\udf41\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6 (@\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\udf41Chris\ud83c\udf41\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6) 1644455881
He asked the right question. Your reply falls short of a complete answer.— zeebo13 (@zeebo13) 1644448974
They don't have our constitution Tammy— Bolty Mcboltson (@Bolty Mcboltson) 1644496769
What freedoms have you or anyone else lost due to pandemic restrictions?— nick cady (@nick cady) 1644458475
Freedom from what exactly?— GAZPACHO POLICE!!! (@GAZPACHO POLICE!!!) 1644538003
Fighting for something you already have is what keeps tomi lyin\u2019 employed.— Stuart Brown (@Stuart Brown) 1644454002
By preventing others from having their freedom? \n\nCome on, Thomas. Think it through.— She Who Shall Not Be Named (@She Who Shall Not Be Named) 1644490383
the founding fathers were slave owners...freedom for whom, tomi?— Stormy Lynn (@Stormy Lynn) 1644457386
Although Fox News has continued to provide favorable coverage of the protest, Rivera is not the only Fox News contributor to break from the network consensus.
Earlier, Ari Fleischman, the former White House Press Secretary to former President George W. Bush, expressed sympathy for the truckers but made clear that he disagreed with their tactics, which he compared to those of Occupy Wall Street:
"You don't have the right no matter how good your cause is to do that to your fellow citizens. I do not support blocking traffic, interfering with the mobility of other people, which includes their getting health care, their carrying out the things they need in life to be on time for."
"And so I oppose it whether it's Occupy Wall Street or a group I'm sympathetic toward. Good goals but bad tactics. I think you alienate more people by doing this." ...
"But these tactics backfire and I don't like them being done by anybody. Stay off the streets. Don't shut down the rights of other people to go where they need to go."
Although many critics have expressed concerns about supply chain disruptions as a result of the protests, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called these concerns unfounded on the basis that most Canadian truckers have been vaccinated and criticized protesters who've advocated for the overthrow of the federal government.
