I don’t buy that this was some sort of 5D all according to keikaku plan where the organizers had a “win by losing” end state. If anything, they were flexible with what could constitute as a desired outcome. If they couldn’t get the government to drop the federal mandates, a heavily publicized and documented crackdown by authorities forces the government into an indefensible position. How do you defend cops tearing small children away from their mothers and jackbooting their fathers? How do you justify that to someone who isn’t a bugman? You can’t.
If the truckers only stayed after the first week of protesting because they didn’t think the threat of law enforcement was a possibility, they would capitulated to the papers being waved in the faces of the laptop class and have upped and left a while ago.
I still think it’s a little too early to conclude these mass arrests are a win, but given the news coverage so far and the outrage that has begun to trickle in, I have some hope.