MAGA fans are rejoicing on social media in favor of President Donald Trump’s plan to sign an executive order requiring commercial truck drivers to speak English.

Breitbart News reported that Trump would sign the order Monday evening because “President Trump believes that English is a non-negotiable safety requirement for professional drivers.” Last month, Trump designated English as “the official language of the United States.”

“This is such a big deal! So grateful for this, the roads will be much safer. Like many, I have seen many accidents or near accidents from unqualified drivers,” posted @coffeegirlvegas.

  • DBT@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    “This is such a big deal! So grateful for this, the roads will be much safer. Like many, I have seen many accidents or near accidents from unqualified drivers,” posted @coffeegirlvegas.

    Oh yea? You and many others have witnessed many accidents that were due to a truck driver’s inability to speak English?

    You dumb bitch.

          • toy_boat_toy_boat@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Word history!

            1784, a colloquial American English alteration of darnation (itself a minced oath in place of damnation), influenced by tarnal (1790), a mild profanity, clipped from phrase by the Eternal (God), for which see eternal.

            • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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              2 months ago

              Neat … never did think about where the word ‘tarnation’ came from … heard it many times and just thought it was a made up nonsense word … never thought it had an actual history like that. Thanks!

              • toy_boat_toy_boat@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                okay, you’ve got to check out RobWords and Words Unraveled. i’m not usually one to plug youtube channels, but i think you’d really like them. i suggest you check out words unraveled first - just because it’s a lot of fun and jess (his co-host) adds a lot and makes him blush.

                • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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                  2 months ago

                  You are a monster … I spend hours watching furniture and small engine restoration videos … documentaries and history … now you’ve given me a new branch of content to watch.

                  I can both simultaneously thank you and curse for this information. Regardless, I’m happy to have met you.

  • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    This is just an excuse for ICE to pull people over. And since they’re a part of the executive branch, they care less about due process and laws.

  • 野麦さん@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 months ago

    I have a CDL, Class A with X endorsement.

    This changes nothing. CDL manuals, exams, and paperwork are all in English. What I think Trump thinks he’s doing is banning Mexicans from driving trucks in the US, but this is controlled by a reciprocity agreement between the US and Mexico. Surprise, Mexicans don’t have to take American exams for a CDL when they can have a license issued by the Mexican government.

    Basically all this is is white supremacist virtue signaling.

    • Saleh@feddit.org
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      2 months ago

      I would love to see the US go a month without Mexican truck drivers. The UK pulled the same stunt with Polish truck drivers. People were rejoicing at empty shelves and overflowing garbage bins.

  • BombOmOm@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    This is already a Commercial Driver’s License requirement. What is the specific issue here?

    “Interpreters are prohibited during the administration of skills tests. Applicants must be able to understand and respond to verbal commands and instructions in English by a skills test examiner.” CDL Standards

    • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      Can’t pull someone for “driving while brown”, but you can pull someone over for “driving while not speaking English, which I just concluded from you being brown”

    • MDCCCLV@lemmy.ca
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      2 months ago

      You don’t need to speak English to know turn left and stop.

      • uselessRN@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        You’re right. You just need to be able to read, write, and understand instructions. Wait that sounds like knowing the language

        • MDCCCLV@lemmy.ca
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          2 months ago

          Just like reddit to downvote someone who actually knows what the fuck they’re talking about because it doesn’t sound right to you.

          • uselessRN@lemm.ee
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            2 months ago

            You’re being down voted by others. Mostly cause what you said is stupid

            • MDCCCLV@lemmy.ca
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              And yet I know more than you and am correct. Maybe because you are just guessing and don’t have actual first hand knowledge.

              It is quite common to have CDL drivers that only speak Spanish whether or not they’re supposed to be able to speak English.

              • uselessRN@lemm.ee
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                2 months ago

                They still understood enough English to pass the test in the first place. I’m assuming with your first hand knowledge you knew that. Or are you just guessing there’s a lot of Spanish speaking people that got interpreters? This is about there already being a rule to speak English to get your license. It’s not about what language they primarily speak. This is just political theater to make magats happy. You’re just stuck on this “I have to be right or my online persona will be ruined”. Chill man. You don’t even sound smart online

      • stembolts@programming.dev
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        2 months ago

        I read comments like this and all I can feel is astonishment that anyone’s life is so empty that they can dedicate time to caring about this.

        Like, it sounds made up, but honestly whether true or not… like, who cares? It’s so trivial and life has so much to offer. This comment is the first and last time I’ll ever think about this.

        • rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          Well, it’s fact. Some truckers and trucker’s groups have theorized that the increase in CDL involved accidents since the relaxing of this rule are caused instead of simply correlated.

          I actually agree with enforcing rules like this so even though trump’s an asshole, this one might improve safety.

          • mechoman444@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

            • Benjamin Franklin
  • CBYX@feddit.org
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    2 months ago

    Good thing we won’t need so many of those when supply chains dry up from tariffs!

  • lemmy_outta_here@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    So the party of small government is going to administer english tests to truck drivers? maybe create some kind of language registry with proficiency levels? sounds kinda woke

    • radix@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Running the entire economy via a central planning committee is exactly the sort of right-wing free market the GOP voters wanted. I guess? Up is down. The past is alterable. The past never had been altered. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.

      • PattyMcB@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        There’s the double-think we’ve all come to know and love. Double plus good, party member

    • aramis87@fedia.io
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      2 months ago

      There was a video on ?imgur? in the past couple days, I didn’t know if it was real. Guy says he was a truck driver and had stopped at a weigh station. He said they asked if he could read and write English; he said yes. They gave him a piece of paper to read, which he did; they then told him to write those words down on another piece of paper, which was filled with identical words in various handwritings. He said he saw a bunch of people off to the side in handcuffs, and said that if you couldn’t speak or write English, you had to pay a $5000 “fine” on the spot, and that if you couldn’t pay, you were arrested on the spot and your driving license immediately suspended. There was some condition (I don’t remember what it was) where the trucking company might also have to pay a $10000 “fine”.

      The comments discussion pointed out that, if they had had $5000 to pay the “fine”, it likely would’ve been taken in civil forfeiture. There was also a robust discussion on whether this was real or not, trying to find other sources, which were slim and primarily referenced questionable sources.

      Edit: found the video, which apparently originated on Xitter, and was originally posted last month (I only saw it a day or so ago).

    • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      Think we are way past them being small government. They are the party of HUGE government. They want to regulate how you speak, to whom you speak, where you speak, what your name is allowed to be, what people are allowed to call you, where you are allowed to use the bathroom, whether or not you can access healthcare, how you pay for that healthcare, what you are allowed to eat, who you purchase things from, what medications you are allowed to be prescribed and monitor whether or not you are ovulating.

    • XeroxCool@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      The party of states rights (in areas they’re losing federally) makes yet another federal commandment in areas they want to gain ground on

    • Wilco@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      There is already a federal clearing house for DoT drivers, this is for criminal checks and drug tests. They would just put it there.

      I hate to be “that guy” … but non English speakers on the road is kind of an issue.

      • lemmy_outta_here@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I’m sorry, but the whole thing is ridiculous. Surely you are aware that there are countries (eg your neighbour to the north) that have more than one official language. As far as i know, only one city in Canada has bilingual signage, yet Canadians manage to drive safely all over the country without necessarily having proficiency in both languages. The european union has ??? languages and yet somehow manages to have safe roads. this is all part of trump’s pandering to the racist and xenophobic idiots who comprise his base.

      • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
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        2 months ago

        Commerical driving licenses already require English proficiency so this is a non-issue. Now ask yourself why this particular administration is trying to “solve” a non-issue via executive order and not an act of Congress. Hint: It’s a power grab that will be used to the detriment of minorities.

  • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Not sure about other states, but in mine, the ability to read and understand English is a requirement for getting a license…

    Now you could make an argument that’s not the same as speaking English, and my rebuttal is “should we ban mute, or speech-impared people from getting a CDL”?

    • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I’m not really clear how they would even enforce this. They don’t have a database or standard test for speaking english.

      FBI: “Do you speak english?”

      Driver: “Sí señor. Aber ich lerne auch Deutsch.”

      FBI: “Fatastich. Guten Abend.”

    • sowitzer@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      I keep seeing comments from people pretending that the way it is meant to be is the way it is. Trump has said the law is what he says. There is no effective defense against him declaring laws if there is no enforcement. He has defied judges orders and will continue to do so. The EOs are laws because they are being followed and nobody is stopping them.

      Saying he can’t do that comes across like a right wing talking point. Trying to convince people that he can’t do what he is clearly doing, so those who are opposed will just sit around thinking the natural order will take care of it.

      And it’s working. Sure there have been some protests. But no where the amount needed to make a change. Trump is now a dictator, and far too many Americans are ok with it, directly and passively.

      • Necroscope0@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        Actually there have been some massive protests against all this BS Trump has done. The media is just complicit and basically none of these protests have been covered in any mainstream outlets. The protests ARE there but if you are not driving by them on the way to work you probably do not even know about them. Thanks MSM~!@