Pro-Trump influencers have all suddenly started waging war on Harley-Davidson motorcycles — and it’s clearly not an organic movement, Will Sommer wrote for The Bulwark in an analysis published on Monday.
This week, he wrote, “has seen wave after wave of MAGA personalities and meme accounts decide, seemingly out of nowhere, that Harley-Davidson was company non grata.” For example, he noted, “MAGA influencer Priya Patel declared the manufacturer ‘fundamentally anti-American,’ while Hercules actor-turned-tweeter Kevin Sorbo said his friends were abandoning Harley-Davidson en masse.” Even Nick Adams, a Trump envoy, boosted the campaign.
There’s just one problem, he noted: almost none of the influencers slamming Harley-Davidson are actually naming any sort of corporate decision or messaging they object to. Additionally, “every influencer throwing a grenade at Harley is also simultaneously boosting its competitor,” Indian Motorcycle.
For example, said Sommer, Prison Mitch, another far-right influencer who trashed Harley motorcycles as “woke and gay,” was quick to simultaneously say “Indian Motorcycle spent years building motorcycles and honoring American heritage.”
The pattern was such an obvious paid influence campaign that even Trump adviser Alex Bruesewitz, who posted — and then deleted — an image of an anti-Harley post, saying, “copy and paste talking points about a random issue. And yes, foreign countries also pay influencers for certain campaigns like this. We need stronger disclosure laws!”
All of this, wrote Sommer, “is extra awkward in part because many conservative politicians enjoy their Harleys,” including Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA). It’s also ironic because “it’s pitching a company called ‘Indian’ at a time when the American right has been consumed with hate for people from the country of India” — though some MAGA influencers are even commenting on this, with the Wall Street Mavericks account posting, “I know nothing about them, other than it is not a reference to the country of India.”
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