The War on Cars

Early Release: Vehicular Violence, Politics and the Law with Greg Shill

Added 2020-11-20 15:32:20 +0000 UTC

Hello, War on Cars supporters!

Many of you have probably already heard Episode 52, "Honk If You Loved 2020," about all the ways in which cars played a role in the 2020 U.S. Presidential election. This episode, which we're releasing early to you before it goes out to the general public, offers a deeper dive on one of the subjects Sarah, Aaron and Doug discussed: vehicles as instruments of political intimidation.

On Friday, October 30th, just days before the U.S. presidential election, a Biden-Harris campaign bus on I-35 in Texas was followed and surrounded by a “Trump Train,” a caravan of SUVs and large pickups flying “Make America Great Again” flags and other pro-Trump displays. In video posted online, one vehicle can be seen crashing into a white SUV which was said to be transporting members of the Biden-Harris team. Thankfully, no injuries were reported.

While neither Joe Biden nor Kamala Harris were on the bus, other candidates for office were and the incident motivated Texas Democrats to cancel three campaign events due to safety concerns. Beyond that, it marked a new escalation in the use of vehicles as potential instruments of political violence, something that seems to be occurring with increasing frequency in this country.

To make sense of it all, Doug talked with Greg Shill, an associate professor at the University of Iowa College of Law. Greg is a friend of the podcast and has written extensively on the ways in which the right to drive at the expense of nearly all other forms of transportation is written into and protected by America’s legal system. On Election Day, The Atlantic published his take on the Texas incident and why the drivers in the “Trump Train” had every reason to expect immunity under the law.

As always, we want to say thanks to everyone for your ongoing support and generosity. We have a full production slate scheduled for the rest of 2020 with some very special exclusive episodes in the pipeline. We're preparing an end-of-year mailbag episode, so please send voice memos of 30 seconds or less with your questions and comments to thewaroncars@gmail.com. Plus, new War on Cars merchandise is coming soon, so stay tuned!

Stay safe, stay healthy and thanks for supporting The War on Cars!

- Aaron, Sarah and Doug