“More than a thousand large trucks, recreational vehicles and cars are gathering on the outskirts of Washington as part of a protest against COVID-19 restrictions that threatens to roll on the U.S. capital in the coming days,” Reuters reports.

“Though it was billed as a grass-roots, nonpartisan event intended to oppose government Covid-19 mandates, a trucker demonstration that left California for Washington, D.C., on Wednesday appeared to be tightly aligned with far-right organizations and activists” the New York Times reports.

“Many of those behind the demonstration, which was planned as an American version of last month’s chaotic Canadian protest, have connections to the violent attack on the Capitol in January 2021, or supported the lie that fraud in the 2020 presidential election was to blame for Donald Trump’s loss.”

BuzzFeed News: The U.S. version of the Canadian trucker convoy had a tough first day.

“The Pentagon has approved the deployment of 700 unarmed National Guard troops to the nation’s capital as it prepares for trucker convoys that are planning protests against pandemic restrictions beginning next week,” the AP reports.

Tamara Lich, a major organizer of the so-called Freedom Convoy, was denied bail Tuesday morning in Ottawa, the CBC reports.

“An organizer of one of the truck convoys headed to D.C. later this week says there are plans to shut down the Capital Beltway,” Fox 5 reports.

Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) is set to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference this week, The Hill reports.

“Gabbard’s scheduled appearance at CPAC, a gathering of conservative activists and elected officials, is unusual for a Democrat, though it won’t be the first time she’s rankled her own party.”

The Capitol Police briefed staff on the House Administration and Senate Rules Committees about a potential trucker protest in Washington, D.C., Politico reports.

Metropolitan Police Department officers were told they would not be able to take time off between Feb. 22 and March 5 as local authorities geared up for a potential protest convoy.

After his initial shipment of MyPillow products was denied entry into Canada, Mike Lindell told the Daily Beast about a backup plan to get free pillows to Canadian truckers: drop them from the sky via a helicopter.

Lindell said the pillows will have “little parachutes,” while adding “make sure you put that part in, or it could be dangerous.” 

The Chinese “billionaire” behind Steve Bannon’s projects and the right-wing social media app Gettr filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, claiming to only be worth $50,000 to $100,000, the Daily Beast reports.

“MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is showing support for the anti-vaccine trucker protesters in Ottawa who have blocked major routes across the U.S.-Canada border — by pledging to send them pillows en masse,” the HuffPost reports.

Said Lindell: “All of our employees are busy making pillows right now for the truckers in Canada. We’re going to try and get them through. I’m not going to say what day or, you know, there will be obstructionists.”

“What began as a small-but-loud truck convoy protest against Canadian pandemic restrictions has snowballed into an international crisis that’s been choking the busiest border crossing in North America all week,” Axios reports.

“Copycat convoys are spreading in other countries, including the United States, where officials warned of a potential disruption to Sunday’s Super Bowl in Los Angeles.”

Washington Post: “Authorities in Paris and Brussels yesterday said they will try to stop convoys from entering both cities, potentially thwarting plans for staging in Europe the type of demonstration that has paralyzed Ottawa and closed Canada’s busiest border crossing into the United States.”

“It’s not every day that Canada becomes the red-hot center of a global protest movement,” Politico reports.

“But what started as a rally of Canadian truckers angry at cross-border vaccine mandates has fast become a magnet for far-right grievances around the world.”

More from Politico: “Canada’s truckers have paralyzed Ottawa and unsettled the country’s politics over vaccine and mask mandates. Now Americans want in on the action.”

“Some Republicans on Saturday vowed to investigate GoFundMe’s decision to take down a page accepting donations in support of protesting truck drivers in Canada, although GoFundMe early Saturday already said it would simply refund all donations,” Reuters reports.

The Intercept: “Last year, right-wing groups that have long opposed the concept of increased government spending on ‘handouts’ were the recipients of more than $1.7 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans while seeing significant increases in contributions or net assets.”

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell told CNBC he has spent $25 million of his own money pushing the false claim that the election was stolen from Donald Trump and he plans to keep spending through the 2022 midterm elections.

Said Lindell: “I will keep spending it because there is no tomorrow. We lose our country. We either only have two paths: either it gets changed before the 2022 election or we lose our country forever. I will spend every dime I have. I will spend whatever it takes.”

BuzzFeed: “Individual election deniers and grassroots groups are canvassing for election fraud in states lost or even won by former president Donald Trump in 2020, including New Hampshire, Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, Utah, and Nebraska.”