Two weeks ago news broke across the Internet that Harley Davidson, one of the last largely American patriotic conservative brands, had fallen off the straight and narrow path into the abyss of wokeness. Owners, stockholders, and dealers felt betrayed and angry. They viewed what the board and CEO did behind their backs as nothing less than the willful and intentional destruction of yet another American brand name.
Podcaster Robby Starbuck was one of the first to blow the whistle on Harley Davidson.
Starbuck is a former director and producer of music videos and commercials. He has since turned into a social media influencer. Starbuck moved from California to Tennessee in 2019. He made a failed run for Congress in 2022. Conservative activist Starbuck posted a 10-minute video on July 23 to X (formerly Twitter) arguing Harley Davidson “has gone woke.” Since then, their stock has appeared to have gone down 5%.
Harley Davidson has about 1,800 corporate employees as well as about 1,500 dealers in a worldwide network employing anywhere from 5 to 50 employees per dealership depending on size.
A few years back Harley Davidson hired German businessman Jochen Zeitz. Zeitz has served since 2007 on Harley’s board. He accepted the position of interim/acting president and CEO role February 2020. Zeitz was permanently appointed to CEO and chairman of the board in May 2020. His salary is said to be around 12 million dollars per year.
“Exposing Harley Davidson’s Woke CEO Jochen Zeitz” – Robby Starbuck
Perhaps the earliest evidence of climate change advocate Zeitz involvement in Harley Davidson was the 2019 introduction of the LiveWire model. Harley-Davidson’s first electric motorcycle was said to be intended to attract wealthy early adopters of the more climate friendly model. It has a top speed of 110 miles per hour and a 105 horsepower motor and it failed spectacularly. That should have been a warning to the board to never put Zeitz in charge.
But then again, the Harley Davidson board appears to be compromised now itself.
“Exposing Harley Davidson’s Woke Board of Directors (Part 1) Allan Golston” – Robby Starbuck
Starbuck correctly makes the case that much of this Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) agenda is really simply laying the foundation for Marxism and communism. He has promised to investigate and expose every single board member starting with Golston.
Harley Davidson owners, who go by HOG members for Harley Owner’s Group, are formulating plans how they will approach this issue. Some are discussing a worldwide boycott but others want to make sure the local dealer base is not hurt as they had no choice or voice in this matter.
“The CEO of Harley is a woke zealot… He wants to fundamentally change who you are, how you live, how you think and how you raise your family.” – UFC fighter Sean Strickland on selling his Harley Davidson Motorcycle
Harley-Davidson has been pushing out family run dealerships the past 2yrs. They only want corporate slaves that tow the line. Longtime family dealerships can no longer afford the costly dealership requirements nor were they accepting of the woke policies being shoved down their… pic.twitter.com/6pVs3KMfNv
— LadyPatriot 🍊#Trump2024 (@Pete2Shawn) July 31, 2024
Another much older dealer going out of business is one over 100 years old out in San Francisco.
“San Francisco’s Oldest Harley-Davidson Dealership Closes After a Century” – News For Reasonable People
CONCLUSION:
My first motorcycle was a Harley Davidson at the age of 18. I bought it two weeks after my birthday when I had to go to register for the draft during Vietnam. I have never been without a motorcycle since then and half of them have been Harley Davidson’s. If my math is right, I have owned 10 and 5 have been Harley’s. I am an Illinois certified Driver’s Education instructor to teach motorcycle riding by the Motorcycle Safety Project at Northern Illinois University in 1976. To say I take this mode of transportation seriously would be an understatement.
I gravitated to Harley Davidson because it is over 90% American-made. I have owned about 7 Jeeps since 1988 for the same reason.
I love critical thinking, humor, and irony.
It is truly ironic that all of this is happening in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, some 80 years after Wisconsin Senator Joseph R. McCarthy left the Democrat’s Party to become a Republican. He then rocketed to public attention in 1950 with his allegations that hundreds of Communists had infiltrated federal agencies. He was mocked for his inquisitions which were then labeled McCarthyism which somehow became a bad thing.
I liked the guy. I don’t think he went far enough. Zetiz makes a good case in point!
If you are not un-American and not trying to intentionally destroy an American icon such as Harley Davidson, why are you promoting DEI, LGBTQ, and the Green New Deal knowing the customer base resents all of these causes?
You are supposed to be acting as stewards of the stockholder and dealership invested dollars and you are clearly not doing that.
It is a proven fact most HOG members are patriotic conservatives who will be voting for Donald Trump this fall. How much money will Zetiz and Harley Davidson be donating to the Trump-Vance campaign?
If anybody wants to argue this point with me, you had better take a look back to 2013 when Muslims announced “A Million Muslim March to DC” and America’s bikers responded to rapidly displace them on 9-11-2013. Most of those bikes were Harley Davidsons.
“’Million Muslim March’ 2013 and ‘2 Million Bikers’ [VIDEO]: Washington D.C. rally expected on anniversary of September 11 attacks” – Christian Today
I am not in favor of boycotting Harley Davidson as that will only hurt those working on the assembly lines and dealerships around the country. I am in favor of a class action lawsuit against Zeitz and his board for damages instead.
My wife asked me last night, “How much do you think your 2021 Tri Glide went down in value the last 2 weeks from the $35,000 you paid for it three years ago?” Her question made me sick to my stomach. Now I want to make Zeitz sick to his!
Copyright © 2024 by Mark S. Schwendau
