A “Trump Train” of trucks surround a campaign bus of Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden on Interstate 35 in Texas, October 30, 2020

UPDATE, 0915 GMT:

Donald Trump has repeated his endorsement of intimidation with messages on Twitter and at a campaign appearance.

He told a Sunday night gathering in Miami, Florida: “They escorted the bus. And the radical left said, ‘Oh what a horrible thing that is, to escort the bus.'”

UPDATE, NOV. 2:

The FBI has confirmed that it is investigating the intimidation of the Biden campaign bus by a pro-Trump convoy of vehicles.

Meanwhile, Russian State TV celebrates the prospect of more incidents:

UPDATE, 1215 GMT:

So one of the “Trump Train” vehicles boxing in the Biden campaign bus was a hearse….

Three days before the US elections, Donald Trump cheers supporters who intimidated a campaign bus of his Presidential opponent Joe Biden.

On Friday, a convoy of trucks, flying Trump flags, surrounded the bus travelling from San Antonio to Austin, Texas. Peole in the trucks began yelling profanities and blockaded the bus. At one point the convoy slowed the bus to about 20 miles per hour on Interstate 35, and tried to stop the Biden vehicle in the middle of the highway.

A Biden campaign official said there were almost 100 vehicles around the bus, whose passengers reportedly included US House candidate Wendy Davis. A volunteer, Dr Eric Sevini summarized:

These Trump supporters, many of whom were armed, surrounded the bus on the interstate and attempted to drive it off the road. They outnumbered police 50-1, and they ended up hitting a staffer’s car.

Staff on the bus called 911, and law enforcement escorted the campaigners to their destination.

A campaign event in Pflugerville, 17 miles north of Austin, was cancelled after the incident. Local Democrats said they had to act because of “security reasons”.

On Saturday night, Trump applauded the convoy:

He also hailed the intimidation at an appearance in Pennsylvania:



The convoy appeared to fulfil Donald Trump Jr.’s injunction, before the visit of Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris to Texas on Friday, to give a “nice Trump train welcome” and show her “how strong Texas is. Texas is Trump country.”

Texas has not voted Democrat in a Presidential election since 1976. But with a shifting population and Democratic success in 2018 mid-terms, the Red state is trending Purple. Latest analysis gives Trump a 65% chance of holding onto the state’s 38 electoral votes, second-most in the US.

See also Essential Guide to Biden v. Trump: The 13 Swing States (and 2 Districts) That Will Decide the US Presidential Election

Biden spokesman Bill Russo responded by noting reports that Trump’s campaign had not provided shuttles for attendees who had been bused to a rally at a Pennsylvania airport, leaving them to walk to cars parked miles away. Days earlier, Trump supporters were hospitalized after they were left in the freezing cold after a Trump appearance in Omaha, Nebraska.

For the second time in a week your campaign has left your supporters stranded in the cold with no transportation at one of your superspreader rallies. Maybe you should spend more time worried about those buses than ours.