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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    15514 days 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.

    • @socphoenix@midwest.social
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      6114 days ago

      It’s already part of the federal commercial driver regulations too… so no. No they have not. The most they’ve seen is someone with a heavy accent and maybe broken English.

      • @DBT@lemmy.world
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        4814 days ago

        I’m willing to bet the most they’ve seen is some accidents involving trucks, with no knowledge of what happened or who was driving.

      • BombOmOm
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        14 days ago

        It’s already part of the federal commercial driver regulations too

        If it is already part of the rules, what makes this EO a bad thing? Sounds like it’s just enforcing a status-quo that nobody had an issue with.

        “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

        • @XeroxCool@lemmy.world
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          3514 days ago

          What’s bad about performative actions in the form of executive orders applying rules to situations the president has clearly demonstrated he doesn’t understand?

        • @socphoenix@midwest.social
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          1414 days ago

          From my personal experience the bigotry towards non white non male folks in the industry can be pretty extreme, so off the very top of my head I can think of several ways a bombastic EO could inflame that worse. Not to mention I’d like my government to focus on fixing shit instead of meaningless performative bullshit

          • @toy_boat_toy_boat@lemmy.world
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            814 days 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
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              414 days 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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                314 days 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
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                  414 days 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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    6714 days 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
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    6114 days 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.

  • BombOmOm
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    5714 days 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
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      3514 days 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”

      • @uselessRN@lemm.ee
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        213 days 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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          -113 days 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.

            • @MDCCCLV@lemmy.ca
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              12 days ago

              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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                112 days 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

  • @lemmy_outta_here@lemmy.world
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    2314 days 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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      1114 days 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.

    • @LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      414 days ago

      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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      314 days 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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      114 days 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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        114 days 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.

  • @Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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    13 days 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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      713 days 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.”

  • @greedytacothief@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1913 days ago

    Who the fuck is supposed to drive the trucks then? I live in (upstate) New York and it seems like even up there a significant population of Mexican truck drivers.

    • @pfwood178@sh.itjust.works
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      613 days ago

      Here, if they don’t speak English, they are almost all Eastern European or Indian. Lots of Russian, Belarusian, Chechen, etc

    • fantoozie
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      413 days ago

      How does being Mexican mean you don’t speak English? Have you never met a bilingual person in your life?

      • @scbasteve7@lemm.ee
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        13 days ago

        If you ever followed American politics throughout history, you can see how this can easily be abused. Before, you had to take a test to determine if you were smart enough to vote. The test was the same for both whites and minorities, but it was graded differently depending on your race.

        What defines “speaking English”?. Is it a basic level, being able to read road signs or being able to speak to dispatch, the loading crew, or ems at a fundamental level? Or is it college level? Will you even be tested if you’re white?

        With trumps many many anti-minority policies and rhetoric, and his abuse of ice, as well as setting up black sites and selling people to the El Salvadoran concentration camp, it’s hard not to think that this will be abused in some way. This is in no way a pro-English law. This is an anti-minority law.

        However, cause of how dot and cdls are set up now, I doubt that much will come out of it tbh

      • @greedytacothief@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        113 days ago

        I don’t think I said they don’t speak English. It’s usually pretty broken in my experience. They’re usually just guys who work long hours at a hard job.

        I’ve actually seen deliveries from all sorts of immigrant drivers, Ukrainian stands out.

  • @Darkard@lemmy.world
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    1814 days ago

    Ah yes, those unqualified drivers that are being hired as professional truck drivers. It’s their lack of English skills that are the problem.

    How was their totally legitimate and law abiding employer supposed to know about their lack of ability or driving licence? They are the real victims here, being forced to hire them and all.

    • @toy_boat_toy_boat@lemmy.world
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      414 days ago

      ah, there’s the old rub. how many of trucking companies are going to be held accountable for hiring them? i’d wager it’s just about as many farmers that get fucked for hiring lettuce pickers. oh yeah, how’s that lettuce picking going now?