IN YET ANOTHER embarrassing twist for Trump, the US security service has ordered a new Harley-Davidson, just a month after the President called for a boycott of the Milwaukee manufacturer.
According to bizjournals.com, the U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division placed the order for a Harley-Davidson police motorcycle last week, with an intended use for "protective motorcade support functions." Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that very motorcycle ended up in Trump’s personal cavalcade...
Following Harley-Davidson’s June announcement that it would be moving production overseas, Trump launched a Twitter tirade, urging his supporters to avoid the brand.
“Many @harleydavidson owners plan to boycott the company if manufacturing moves overseas,” he wrote on August 12th.
“Great! Most other companies are coming in our direction, including Harley competitors. A really bad move! U.S. will soon have a level playing field, or better.”
But what Trump failed to realise was that removing Harley-Davidson from America’s security infrastructure wasn’t as simple as unfollowing them on Twitter.
According to this latest bike’s purchase order documents, Harley-Davidsons are required to ensure "consistency of appearance, performance, training and parts with the currently existing motorcade motorcycle fleet." And ordering motorcycles made by a different manufacturer would require the Secret Service to spend time and money training its support technicians and motorcade support officers. The Secret Service would not only have to "duplicate an inventory of spare parts" if the brand was switched, but they would also have to purchase new and perhaps bespoke sidecars to fit to the new bikes.
So it looks like Harley is there to stay, or at least until the current fleet is “deemed worn out and economically unviable", which doesn’t sound like it will be anytime soon.
