Amber Phillips of The Fix covers one side of the President Irrelevancy Trump / Harley-Davidson story, wherein the iconic motorcycle manufacturer has announced plans to move some manufacturing to Europe in response to the trade war begun by President Trump:
By now it’s pretty clear that President Trump feels personally slighted by what used to be one of his favorite companies, Harley-Davidson, shipping some of its production overseas.
Harley-Davidson announced its decision Monday, and nearly every day since, Trump has insulted them or threatened them. Most remarkable of all, on Thursday, he flat-out begged them to bring production back to the United States.
“Harley-Davidson, please build those beautiful motorcycles in the USA, please. Okay,” Trump said in a speech in Wisconsin designed to champion his economic policies. “Don’t get cute with us. Don’t get cute.”
Harley-Davidson is based in Milwaukee, and it’s a brand that is popular with people Trump views as his loyal base. …
He’s tried everything to get Harley-Davidson to change their minds. Over 36 hours or so, he has gone from threatening them — “The Aura will be gone and they will be taxed like never before!” he tweeted Wednesday — to trying to cajole them back: “Build them in the USA. Your customers won’t be happy if you don’t. I’ll tell you that.”
Begging, as Trump appeared to do on stage Thursday in a televised address, is highly unusual for Trump.
And, sure, maybe the other half of the story might not yet be available – but I’m hoping it will be someday. It’s my guess that the top executives of H-D, or even the board of directors, are caught up in a bit of a political quandary. After all, they’re being harassed by one of the least popular Presidents in the history of the United States, but one who has a fanatical base. Does their customer base support Trump, or are they against him? If they roll over for Trump, do their customers refuse to buy from them ever again because they went soft?
They could easily go bankrupt if they shatter their own reputation as provider of bikes to some of the roughest riders in the States.
I don’t ride, so I don’t have a worthwhile opinion. But I’d like to see them show some gumption, basically tell Trump that them moving manufacturing is how it’s going to be, it was caused by him and he’d better own it, and not to come visiting because they’ll kick his ass right out of corporate headquarters because they don’t like threats from an incompetent moron.
It’d probably impress their entire customer base if they were aggressive enough about it, regardless of their political inclinations.
Will it happen? I have no idea who runs Harley-Davidson. Is it the cold-blooded corporate types who are just there to make money? Or is it cycle-lovers who care passionately about their product – and their reputation?
