Harley-Davidson did not get the memo that protest doesn’t work
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Jake Fuentes’ article on the futility of street protest has not aged well.
Race-ist Bannon’s #2 likes to stand in front of cheering crowds. The fact that large numbers of people have shown they’re willing to hit the streets to let the world know they loathe tRump has deprived him of time in front a cheering crowd. (And has likely spared the world some gawdawful photo op of tRump pretending to ride a motorcycle.)
President Donald Trump will not head to Milwaukee for a previously scheduled visit of a Harley-Davidson factory after the company decided it wasn’t comfortable hosting him amid planned protests, an administration official said Tuesday.
Trump had been scheduled to tour the factory Thursday where he also planned to sign executive orders related to American manufacturing.
As Loomis noted, the claim that street protest doesn’t work is false. But honestly, I wouldn’t have minded Fuentes’ piece if it was unique. Or even rare. Instead, it seems that when it comes to public protest there is an endless supply of Glum’s droning It’ll never work! It’s hopeless! because public protest fails to meet their fresh-from-their-backsides metric for success: Achieving the goal of the protest within a very short period of time.
At The Women’s March in D.C. I spoke to a few people who loved the idea of filling downtown D.C. to beyond the bursting point the day after tRump’s teeny weeny inauguration, because they thought it would upset him. That was on Jan. 21. On Jan. 31 the risk of large anti-Trump protests caused a company to pass on a visit by tRump, depriving the attention-addict-in-chief of his drug of choice and making at least one protester smile.
It was the threat of protests, and not Trump’s planned signing of executive orders, that made Harley-Davidson uncomfortable, the official said.
The canceled trip highlighted the difficulties Trump will continue to face as he looks to implement his agenda while his presidency is engulfed in controversy.
Do I expect him to change his behavior? No. He can’t. But if the risk of large protests causes companies to avoid giving Trump opportunities to look like a real leader, I’ll call that a small win.
