The 'Woke' Wars: Indian Vs Harley-Davidson

Indian, Noise Media, and Clock Tower X

You may or many not have seen the 2026 edition of the H-D VS Indian Wars, which is no longer conducted solely on racetracks and salerooms, but on microblogging platforms like X.  ‘The Harley-Davidson Versus Indian Wars’ is the title of a terrific book by Allan Girdler, and a convenient label for the drama unfolding between our two major domestic motorcycle brands.  Girdler’s book “explores the bitter engineering and racing battles for control of the American motorcycle market.”  To that historic struggle we can now add a corporate assault using the most modern of tools: PR by proxy, using paid-for conservative influencers and legions of bots to resonate messaging.  And their message is: ‘Harley is woke, gay, anti-American, and made outside the USA, while Indian is 125 years old this year and MADE IN THE USA.’

The message on repeat among conservative influencers isn’t just anti-Harley, but decidedly pro-Indian in this case, and every one of these MAGA bloggers is careful to include the same talking points: Indian’s 125th anniversary (‘since 1901’, forgetting all those years the Indian brand was in limbo and not making motorcycles) and their ‘made in USA’ bona fides.  Given that a slim few of these pundits are actual motorcyclists, and certainly none are historians, it’s clear these repeated talking points are cut-and-paste from a playbook.  Ground zero for this PR campaign (let’s call a spade a spade) appears to be MMA fighter Sean Strickland, who on May 27 declared on X  “Officially made the switch to Indian Motorcycle…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 that actually pushing radical idealogy on children. There is no going back from that” [mis-spellings quoted].  But macho man Strickland ‘just cain’t quit you’ Harley-Davidson: he declared in 2024 that he was selling his Harley because of the company’s ‘woke’ DEI initiatives.  He didn’t, but now says he will, as he’s found a true-blue alternative in Indian.

Soon after Strickland’s message, MAGA influencer Priya Patel on X declared Harley-Davidson – that’s Harley-effing-Davidson – as “fundamentally anti-American”.   The Trump administration has directly joined the fray, as Nick Adams, the Special Presidential Envoy for American Tourism, Exceptionalism, and Values, shouted on X: “Harley Davidson is a woke company that has repeatedly supported leftist causes and bragged about it to their shareholders….Indian Motorcycles are 100% pro-America and have been for 125 years…Unlike Harley Davidson, Indian Motorcycles are 100% pro-America. 125 years of greatness. Make the switch.”   If that isn’t already Indian’s advertising slogan, they’re missing an opportunity…one they very likely paid for already, but we’ll get to that.  In each of these cases, the tweets are amplified by chat-bots in the comments section, endlessly re-posting the message.  Oh, how Joseph Goebbels would have loved working in PR today…

With all these carefully repeated talking points among arch-conservative mouthpieces, its evident to anyone following contemporary politics that this sure looks like a pay-to-play scenario.  Dark money sources from the US and abroad are pushing various corporate and political agendas from behind the scenes, using these influencers to make the messages seem authentic.  In this instance, the messaging is so consistent that Trump adviser Alex Bruesewitz commented – before quickly deleting his tweet – that the campaign had all the hallmarks of a paid promotion: “Here is an example of a coordinated influencer campaign on X; 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!”  Or at least, that’s what he said in an unguarded moment, before whoever signs his paycheck gave him a slap upside the head.

And what is the agenda in this latest wave of anti-Harley-Davidson messaging?  Let’s start with the basics: cui bono?  Who benefits from this campaign?  Indian.  For lifelong motorcyclists, it feels odd for a motorcycle company to utilize this ugly propaganda machine.  Imagine Norton declaring the BMW racing program a ‘Nazi party propaganda tool’ ahead of the 1938 Isle of Man TT…well on second thought, they probably should have, as it was true!  But in this case, the grain of truth in their messaging – yes Harley-Davidson has outsourced parts for decades, and builds some of its bikes in India, and once had a DEI program like every other US corporation – is overshadowed by a clear push to smear the company as ‘anti-American’.  That’s not how the rest of the world sees H-D, and certainly, not all the MAGA motorcyclists who own Harley-Davidsons, and have the tattoo to prove it.

Why the sudden interest among MAGA influencers in Indian motorcycles?  Let’s go back a few months, when Indian’s former parent company Polaris sold the brand to Carolwood LP in February for $450M. Carolwood LP is an investment group owned by young billionaires, who – according to my sources – know little about Indian or care much about motorcycling.  But they do care about money: Indian is a huge investment and a big gamble, and any increase in sales in the contemporary American motorcycle market will be hard won.  And the boys at Carolwood seem to have a total lack of scruples, because back in February, when the Polaris deal closed, Carolwood hired Noise Media to handle the PR story for Indian, and ‘sharpen it’s position’.  The pointy end of the stick is, according to their own website (the page has since been deleted), Brad Parscale, President Trump’s ex-campaign manager, and his ultra-dark propaganda firm (there is no other word for it), Clock Tower X, whose motto is, “If you heard about our work, it wasn’t ours”.  All very cloak and dagger.  The Noise Media page about their work with Indian was modified two weeks ago, but back in February included the following smoking gun: “For this next chapter, we’ll be working closely with Brad Parscale, President Trump’s ex-campaign manager, who is leading Indian Motorcycle’s wider brand and positioning work.  Brad is setting the vision for how the brand returns to what made it iconic and our role at Noise is to help bring that to life through paid media.”  Paid media, indeed: it’s clear we are seeing this campaign in action.

While this story has been picked up by The Bulwark (‘Inside MAGA’s Fake Gay Motorcycle War’) and by RideApart (‘Influencers Are Calling Harley Woke Again. Then They’re Hyping Indian Motorcycles’), the direct connection between Indian, Noise Media, and Clock Tower X / Brad Parscale is news.  And likely, the folks actually working at Indian know nothing about it: this is all happening behind the scenes, with shots being fired by hired guns. You heard it here first.  Don’t believe the hype.