Inside the real conspiracy behind MAGA's 'gay motorcycle' scare

When President Donald Trump or his supporters begin denouncing a product as “woke,” it can devastate the company that creates it — and now a conservative believe that accusation is being weaponized against a corporation that has not even done anything progressive.

“The conservative influencers have spoken: Harley-Davidson—whose motorcycles helped create the paradigm of American masculinity—is in fact woke and gay,” wrote The Bulwark’s Will Sommer on Monday. Observing the numerous MAGA personalities and meme accounts denouncing the company, including actor Kevin Sorbo and meme account Prison Mitch, Sommer observed that “this campaign against the motorcycle giant stands out for the fact that Harley-Davidson doesn’t appear to have done anything terribly ‘woke.’”

Indeed, instead of including any corroborated details to buttress the accusation leveled against Harley-Davidson, Sommer speculated that the personalities are promoting a different brand, Indian Motorcycle. To illustrate his point, he noted that many of the same accounts blasting Harley-Davidson are also pushing Indian Motorcycle.

“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,” Sommer added. “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.”

The irony here is that Harley-Davidson motorcycles are an American-manufactured product, one often touted by conservative figures who wish to boost their American-made and supposedly masculine bona fides.

“The apparent campaign to trash Harley-Davidson is extra awkward in part because many conservative politicians enjoy their Harleys,” Sommer wrote. “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.”

Sommer continued, “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.”

Even though the Trump administration and its supporters claim that America is being taken over by “wokeness,” in fact the administration has rolled back many of the policies that increased diversity in American life. Per Project 2025, the administration has purged ideas and studies that they are described as “woke,” particularly those that study racism, sexism and other forms of bigotry. Similarly, the Supreme Court has supported Trump in his 6-3 decision to reinstate a federal district court decision guaranteeing parents the right to know if their child identified as transgender or wishes to transition, as well as not allowing school districts to prohibit parents from opting their kids out of LGBTQ storybooks.