THE CONSERVATIVE INFLUENCERS have spoken: Harley-Davidson—whose motorcycles helped create the paradigm of American masculinity—is in fact woke and gay.
The past week has seen wave after wave of MAGA personalities and meme accounts decide, seemingly out of nowhere, that Harley-Davidson was company non grata. 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.
Conservative meme account “Prison Mitch” told his more than 100,000 followers that Harley-Davidson is “woke and gay” then posted a picture of a man in a biker’s vest having gay sex (jarring but basically SFW), quipping that Harley-Davidson riders rode a very different kind of “hog.”
Right-wing attacks on supposedly liberal corporations aren’t new. But, beyond the confrontational imagery, this campaign against the motorcycle giant stands out for the fact that Harley-Davidson doesn’t appear to have done anything terribly “woke.”
Instead, the effort seems designed squarely just to benefit Indian Motorcycle, a Harley rival. How can you tell? Because basically every influencer throwing a grenade at Harley is also simultaneously boosting its competitor. Prison Mitch, for example, posted a Marco Rubio meme with the secretary of state in an Indian biker’s vest.
“Harley Davidson spent years pandering to activists and corporate DEI politics,” complained pro-Trump personality Isabella Maria DeLuca, who is not a noted motorcycle enthusiast. “Indian Motorcycle spent years building motorcycles and honoring American heritage.”
The curious operation against Harley-Davidson appears to be just the latest example of pay-for-play coverage on the right, in which undisclosed payments wash through MAGA media with the apparent aim of whipping up a social media frenzy against a “woke” business or political foe.
It’s not clear who, if anyone, organized the latest attacks. And neither Harley-Davidson nor Indian responded to requests for comment. But the arrangement seemed obvious enough that Trump adviser and digital political consultant Alex Bruesewitz, openly blurted out that it had to be the end product of a paid campaign.
“Here is an example of a coordinated influencer campaign on X,” Bruesewitz tweeted last week, attaching a screenshot of one post from the apparent campaign. “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!”
Bruesewitz quickly deleted the tweet, and hasn’t commented on the matter since.
The bizarre storm began on Wednesday, when mixed martial arts fighter Sean Strickland posted that he was ditching Harley-Davidson motorcycles for the, in his view, substantially less woke Indian Motorcycle.
“Officially made the switch to Indian Motorcycle,” Strickland wrote. “What does Indian stand for? No fucking clue, the way it should be. Everytime I got on my harley I was indirectly supporting radical idealogy [sic] that actually pushing radical idealogy [sic] on children.
“There is no going back from that,” he concluded.
Strangely enough, this isn’t the first time Strickland has ditched Harley-Davidson. Back in 2024, when Harley-Davidson came under fire from the right for its DEI initiatives, Strickland posted a video saying he was selling his current hog and would never buy another from the company. He didn’t mention Indian Motorcycle at the time.
In the meantime, Harley-Davidson has switched CEOs and rolled back its diversity policies. Still, Strickland’s announcement last week that he was giving up on Harley-Davidson—this time for real—won a suspicious amount of support in the pro-Trump corners of the internet, where motorcycle culture typically isn’t a big topic of discussion.
“Everyone should dump their Harleys and ride bikes that are actually made in the United States,” the MAGA megaphone “Jack Unheard” wrote to his 198,000 followers. “Indian Motorcycles is doing it right.”
Further raising questions about the authenticity of the MAGA influencerverse’s newfound affection for Indian Motorcycle is their striking knowledge of its corporate talking points. Many of the posts attacking Harley-Davidson remember to mention that Indian’s 125th anniversary is coming up, and awkwardly shoehorn the date into the upcoming celebrations of America’s 250th birthday.
“With America’s 250th birthday approaching, we should be celebrating American heritage, not corporate activism,” meme account “Clown World” wrote in a now-deleted post praising Strickland. “Indian turns 125 this year.”
“Coincidentally, 2026 marks 125 years since the company was founded, dovetailing nicely with celebrations of 250 years of US independence this year,” wrote far-right X user “Captive Dreamer” in an unusually corporate register.
Incredibly, the campaign appears to have even secured an actual Trump official: self-proclaimed “alpha male” Nick Adams, now working as the “Special Presidential Envoy for American Tourism, Exceptionalism, and Values,” a consolation role after his bid to become ambassador to Malaysia was pulled.
“Harley Davidson is a woke company that has repeatedly supported leftist causes and bragged about it to their shareholders,” Adams remarked in one post agreeing with Strickland’s decision to get an Indian bike. “Indian Motorcycles are 100% pro-America and have been for 125 years.”
The Australian-born Adams kept up the attacks, as well as the trademark 125th anniversary language, in yet another post.
“Unlike Harley Davidson, Indian Motorcycles are 100% pro-America,” he wrote. “125 years of greatness. Make the switch.”
Neither Adams nor Strickland responded to requests for comment.
THE APPARENT CAMPAIGN to trash Harley-Davidson is extra awkward in part because many conservative politicians enjoy their Harleys. Among prominent Republicans, Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) drives his Harley around Washington. (It even has a sidecar.) Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) rides, as does former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, whose state is home to Harley-Davidson’s headquarters. President Trump himself has had an up-and-down relationship with the company, praising it as an American icon early in his first term before angrily tweeting about its decision to move some production overseas in 2018. He went on to support a boycott of the company before running to its defense amid trade strife with Europe in 2019.
The White House has not weighed in on the current tiff. But, perhaps not surprisingly, the influencers’ posts attacking Harley have been filled with replies from Sons of Anarchy types unhappy that MAGA figures are attacking their road hogs in favor of the lesser-known Indian bikes.
“I will never own an Indian motorcycle,” one die-hard Harley owner replied to Sorbo. “When my Harley won’t run anymore, I’m done riding.”
There’s another flaw in using MAGA world to sell Indian Motorcycle. 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. In an apparent effort to get around that problem, the operator of pro-Trump meme account “Wall Street Mavericks” made sure his followers knew it definitely wasn’t that India.
“Sean has switched to ‘Indian Motorcycles,’” the account posted. “I know nothing about them, other than it is not a reference to the country of India.”
Glad they cleared that up.
I have a proposal. I think the influencers should go to a real biker bar and explain to the bikers that only gays rides Harleys. I will provide the butter popcorn.
Anyone who is influenced by an "influencer" is a moron, incapable of mature, independent thought.