Pro-Trump 'chumps' block traffic on Whitestone Bridge two days before Election

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A caravan of Trump supporters blocked the Whitestone Bridge Sunday. Photo courtesy of David Joseph Greenbaum

A caravan of Trump supporters blocked the Whitestone Bridge Sunday. Photo courtesy of David Joseph Greenbaum

By David Brand

David Greenbaum, a legal writer from Forest Hills, was merging onto the Whitestone Bridge Sunday afternoon when dozens of large trucks charged onto the Queens-bound side of the span, their Trump flags whipping in the wind. The trucks swerved through traffic and used the shoulder to fly by other motorists before halting in the middle of the road, he said.

Some of the drivers, part of pro-Trump caravans that blocked major roadways elsewhere in the Tristate Area over the weekend, had obscured their license plates with campaign signs and other items, Greenbaum said. That seemed ominous when the trucks shut down traffic on the bridge in a “deliberate show of force,” he said.

“It was like Carnival, the inversion of all order,” Greenbaum said. “The trucks were honking their horns, flashing their lights, men were getting out of their trucks, banging on hoods and windows.”

One man exited a truck with his Pennsylvania license plate hidden by a dirty surgical mask and knocked on the windows of Greenbaum’s car, frightening his 9-year-old son seated in the back, he said. 

“My son was really scared, he thought that we were getting pulled out of our car,” Greenbaum said. 

Greenbaum said the moment reminded him of the tales of terror he heard from his grandparents who escaped Nazi Germany at the start of the Holocaust.

“My grandparents came from Germany in the 1930s. Both of my grandfathers were arrested on Kristallnacht,” Greenbaum said. “My father’s father was beaten. He had an abdominal hernia. This felt like that. It felt like the stories that my grandfather told me.”

He said he called 911 twice to report the rightwing rally. When officers finally responded after about 20 minutes, the Trump supporters drove a few hundred feet down the road and stopped again, Greenbaum said. Eventually the cops returned and the Trump supporters moved their vehicles aside to allow other drivers to squeeze by. By that point, 40 minutes had passed, Greenbaum said.

It is unclear whether the NYPD made any arrests or issued any tickets to the motorists on the Whitestone Bridge. The department has not yet responded to requests for more information.

Photos and videos posted on social media show the trucks, SUVs and other vehicles blocking the Queens-bound lanes while their blue Trump 2020 flags flap in the strong wind. Other drivers stuck in the traffic jam also complained on Twitter and Facebook about waiting for the illegal rally to end.

One viral video from a pro-Trump Twitter account called out Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents both sides of the Whitestone Bridge.

“I took the Throggs Neck. Heard there was a pileup of chumps on the Whitestone,” she responded.

Similar pro-Trump caravans Sunday blocked cars on the Gov. Mario Cuomo Bridge, which crosses the Hudson River in Westchester County, and a section of the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey. A spokesperson for the New York state police said there were no arrests made on Cuomo Bridge.

Another cavalcade coursed through Broad Channel, their Trump signs and flags waving in the rain. One motorist affixed a life-size dummy to the front of his SUV with the word “antifa” written on the dummy’s torso. Several hid their license plates with tape and signs. 

Various pro-Trump caravans had planned to meet in Manhattan, where at least 11 counterprotesters — including at least two journalists — were arrested. The NYPD said the arrested journalists did not possess NYPD-issued press credentials.

Many working journalists, including reporters at prominent media outlets, do not have press passes issued by the NYPD, which serve as de facto credentials in New York City.

Legislation introduced by Councilmembers Adrienne Adams and Keith Powers would take press credentialing power away from the police department.