WHAT IS THE DEAL?

Jordan Klepper Confronts Canadian ‘Freedom Convoy’ Truckers, Finds a Lot of Conspiracy Nuts

The ‘Daily Show’ correspondent ventured to Ottawa to ask the Canadian truckers protesting vaccine mandates why they’re doing it—and found some bizarre characters.

Last fall, both the U.S. and Canada lifted vaccination requirements for long-haul truckers in order to combat a series of supply-chain disruptions. Those restrictions were put back in place last month, and ever since, Canadian anti-vaxxers have formed a convoy in protest of COVID-19 vaccine mandates, shutting down roads and harming businesses.

The so-called “Freedom Convoy” has become a political flashpoint, given that many of the protesters have no ties to trucking, according to the Canadian Trucking Alliance. It’s been praised by culture war-obsessed right-wing troll-politicians in the U.S. like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and much of the funding for the display has come from right-wing donors in America, with some of the biggest donations given by well-heeled Republican backers.

And so, it was the perfect place for The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper to do his thing.

Klepper, of course, has garnered a reputation for confronting deranged right-wing Americans, from those storming the Capitol to try to overturn a democratic election on Jan. 6 to childish anti-vax protesters with a fetish for comparing the choice to get a vaccine in order to help prevent a deadly global pandemic that’s killed millions to Nazi Germany. The comedian’s latest “Finger on the Pulse” took him to Ottawa to try to get to the bottom of why these protesters have been making such a fuss.

“We don’t live in Germany… We don’t live in Nazi Germany. Those days are over,” one protester told Klepper. “Show me your papers don’t happen anymore. That’s a freedom that everyone should have.”

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“Is the Germany comparison a stretch here in Canada?” countered Klepper.

“No,” he replied.

During his segment, Klepper encountered a number of protesters in the convoy who also happen to be Trump supporters—and approached one wearing a QAnon hat.

“I see the ‘Q Army’ on your hat. Is Q the American thing trying to find JFK Jr.?” asked Klepper.

“Exactly… exactly,” the man replied.

Another conspiracy theorist-convoy protester who Klepper came across said, “It’s more than just the vaccine passport and stuff… The Agenda 2030 is a good start… It’s where the world’s headed toward one government. They want to sterilize us that only certain people can have kids.”

For more, listen to The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper on The Last Laugh podcast.

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