this post was submitted on 28 Apr 2025
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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.

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[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 21 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (2 children)

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"?

[–] lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 16 hours ago

, and my rebuttal is “should we ban mute, or speech-impared people from getting a CDL”?

Well those people are already Undesirables under the rule of el trumpo, so their answer is... yeah?

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 4 points 15 hours 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."

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 23 points 19 hours ago

Trump can't even speak English.

[–] jsomae@lemmy.ml 8 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Like many, I have seen many accidents or near accidents from unqualified drivers

Can anyone explain how knowing English would reduce traffic accidents? Is it because of detour signs?

[–] darklamer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

In the US, traffic signs with crucial information are often written in only English text, no symbols, pictograms or anything else that could make it possible to guess what the sign is saying without being able to read English.

[–] Qwaffle_waffle@sh.itjust.works 3 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Can you please elaborate with some examples if possible? I'm trying to picture this from highways and roadways here in Florida, but I am struggling to get your gist. I will look again on the way home tonight. However I am not a trucker or cdl so I might be oblivious to some.

[–] darklamer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

This video, Why US Signs Look Different Than The Rest Of The World’s, contains a lot of examples of such US road signs that depend on English text to convey their message:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzr0GYfRsKI

[–] Qwaffle_waffle@sh.itjust.works 2 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

Wow, that video conveys exactly the difference, thanks. Seems like a USA stubbornness thing, akin to imperial vs metric system, oy vey.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 4 points 16 hours ago

*sniff sniff*

Smells like your food is about to cost even more.

[–] Dorkyd68@lemmy.world 21 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

As always another trump "policy" that'll backfire spectacularly

[–] P1k1e@lemmy.world 7 points 21 hours ago

Probably won't matter much. No ships means nothing to haul

[–] easily3667@lemmus.org 2 points 20 hours ago

If it were enforced, yes. But let's be real.

[–] Jaysyn@lemmy.world 8 points 20 hours ago

Which will be ignored like the rest of his Executive Orders that don't actually have anything to do with the Executive.

[–] CBYX 28 points 1 day ago

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

[–] TON618@lemmy.world 26 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Breitbart News reported that

"News"

[–] greedytacothief@lemmy.dbzer0.com 21 points 1 day ago (2 children)

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 6 points 21 hours ago

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

[–] head_socj@midwest.social 3 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

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

[–] scbasteve7@lemm.ee 11 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours 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 1 points 16 hours 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.

[–] PanArab@lemm.ee 3 points 16 hours ago
[–] nomugisan@lemmy.dbzer0.com 74 points 1 day ago (2 children)

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.

[–] Tetragrade@leminal.space 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Nah you're still thinking about it within the the UN/long peace legal framework. They can just do a decree that says no mexicans, and their extrajudidical thugs will take the signal to harass and murder truck drivers.

B-but that's illegal ☝️🤓

Are you going to stop them?

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[–] Saleh 14 points 1 day 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.

[–] Disaster@sh.itjust.works 56 points 1 day ago (15 children)
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[–] WrenFeathers@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (3 children)

So…. Let’s get this straight… he is signing orders to make things happen that have been happening for almost a century now??

What’s next, an executive order to make air breathable??

[–] starman2112@sh.itjust.works 28 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I'm assuming it's just a way to sneak literacy tests into something. You can speak english, but can you speak it well enough to pass a subjective test administered by someone who hates you for being hispanic?

[–] WrenFeathers@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago

I’ve seen others saying it’s just a way to make his devoted loyalists think he’s actually doing something.

Probably a bit of both I’d imagine.

[–] head_socj@midwest.social 8 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Classic authoritarian tactics:

Target a marginalized group with an issue that you've framed as ridiculous or politically suicidal to disagree with, get public opinion riled up by manipulating their grievances through exploiting their internal prejudices, and make everything an extension of preserving national security. Once you've manipulated enough people into giving you extralegal power, simply expand the circle of 'national security threats'.

In just a few months we've watched Trump:

steal the power of the purse and the power to enact tariffs from Congress,

create a precedent for the unconstitutional arrest, detainment, and removal of legal residents and dissenting citizens,

iterate his intentions to restart American expansionism into Canada and Greenland,

Successfully twist the arm of media companies, law firms, and universities into doing his bidding,

And his other executive order directs Dept. Of Homeland Security, DoJ, and DoD to create a plan for implementation of military and national security assets to "prevent crime and protect public safety".

Welcome to the 'find out' stage.

[–] Rhoeri@lemmy.world 0 points 13 hours ago

You’re 100 percent dead-on.

And alongside this point, I really wonder how many of the kids that were shouting at everyone to not vote because of the “doing a genocide thing” would have done things differently if they had actually believed us all when we tried to tell them this shit would happen.

And I mean truly and honestly. Not the front they put up when they don’t want to publicly own their part in causing this to happen.

Because I can say that as a voter, I am not at all in the “find out” phase. I already knew this would happen. There was never anything to find out.

[–] Tilgare@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago

Oh definitely not - he has been attacking the Clean Air act.

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[–] DBT@lemmy.world 196 points 1 day ago (11 children)

"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.

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yet another thing that has no legal standing and only exists to make the idiots think trump is accomplishing something

[–] Witchfire@lemmy.world 108 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (12 children)

Won't this disqualify half his illiterate base

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[–] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 88 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] BombOmOm@lemmy.world 74 points 1 day ago (5 children)

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

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