{"id":100474,"date":"2025-08-21T23:18:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T23:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/100474\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T23:18:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T23:18:16","slug":"the-anti-trump-resistance-just-got-its-bud-light-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/100474\/","title":{"rendered":"The anti-Trump resistance just got its Bud Light moment."},"content":{"rendered":"

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On Wednesday morning, just hours before Target\u2019s much-anticipated quarterly earnings call, the embattled retailer made a notable announcement<\/a>: CEO Brian Cornell will relinquish his position after 11 years on the job, stepping back to chair the board of directors that had just unanimously voted to appoint COO Michael Fiddelke as his successor. True, Cornell had come to the end of a three-year contract extension he\u2019d signed in 2022, but the actual reasons for this switchover seemed obvious. \u201cIt is clear that Michael is the right leader to return Target to growth,\u201d the board announced, citing his initiatives \u201cthat enabled exponential growth<\/a>.\u201d Cornell likewise shouted out Fiddelke\u2019s \u201cdeep passion for growth,\u201d while Fiddelke recognized that \u201cI step into the role with an urgent commitment to drive growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Growth\u2014part of the mission statement for any large for-profit corporation, yes, but an especially timely one for the Minneapolis-headquartered shopping giant, which has spent the past two years facing down anti-LGBTQ+ right-wingers<\/a>, public frustration with understaffed outposts<\/a>, postpandemic shifts in consumption trends<\/a>, controversial product lockups<\/a> made in response to the ginned-up shoplifting panic<\/a>, supply issues aggravated by imports and tariffs<\/a>, and a nationwide boycott led by Black and brown customers<\/a> opposed to the company\u2019s rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments. All of which has fueled<\/a> concurrent<\/a> declines<\/a> in sales, revenue, foot traffic, and stock value\u2014especially throughout this year.<\/p>\n

The earnings call that followed the CEO shake-up only affirmed that sorry trend<\/a>. Over the past three months, Target\u2019s earnings have plunged 20 percent from the same period last year, with sales revenue and profits inching downward<\/a> as a result. Although measures like digital transactions improved a touch from the early-year slump, they weren\u2019t enough to make up for a crushing first quarter<\/a>. On top of that, investors hungering for a new CEO had hoped Cornell\u2019s replacement would arrive from outside Target; instead, the board picked a 20-year company veteran. In a brutal post-call note to his clients, one prominent retail consultant wrote that Target \u201chas lost its grip on delivering for the American shopper<\/a>.\u201d The corporation\u2019s pandemic-era highs are but a distant memory, with its stock value having plummeted by 64 percent since the summer of 2021.<\/p>\n

But for all the contributing factors to Target\u2019s no good, very bad 2025, the clear standout, to both the investors and the public, is DEI. During the previous earnings call, in May, Cornell had explicitly acknowledged \u201cthe reaction to the updates we shared on [DEI] in January<\/a>\u201d as one of \u201cseveral headwinds\u201d that the company was facing this year. Jamal Bryant, the Georgia pastor who\u2019s been spearheading the nationwide Target-boycott movement since February, did not yet claim victory and told the digital news source Capital B Atlanta that the boycott would continue, although he plans to meet with Fiddelke and \u201cshare what our concerns are<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Target is hardly the only name-brand institution to have backtracked on prior DEI commitments in recent years, in response to either conservative \u201canti-woke\u201d campaigns<\/a> or Trump administration hostility<\/a> toward the very concept. Some CEOs still have nightmares about the transphobic Bud Light boycott<\/a> following TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney\u2019s 2023 ad; others are gleefully dismissing employee pressure<\/a> to play their own part<\/a> in addressing America\u2019s systemic bigotry, whether by materially supporting minority-owned nonprofits and businesses, hiring applicants from underrepresented communities, or mandating workplace sensitivity trainings. To be clear, there were plenty of corporate DEI efforts that were counterproductive to the purported cause<\/a>, serving mainly to burnish a corporation\u2019s image or to wave away employee and investor requests for more foundational changes to business as usual. But the very existence of these initiatives\u2014the thrust of which still finds support among significant proportions<\/a> of Americans\u2014served as a broader indicator that executives (correctly) perceived<\/a> their nods to increased workforce diversification and tolerant internal environments as being good for business.<\/p>\n

In fact, Target once credited DEI as a key driver to its success. In the wake of the Bud Light controversy, Cornell himself told Fortune\u2019s Leadership Next podcast that he was \u201creally proud<\/a>\u201d of Target\u2019s DEI commitments, noting that \u201cfocus on diversity and inclusion and equity has fueled much of our growth over the last nine years.\u201d (There\u2019s that word again: growth!) Achievements like increased representation of women in leadership, Spanish-language signage in Latino communities, and contracts with minority-owned suppliers were simply \u201cgood business decisions,\u201d but also \u201cthe right thing for society\u201d and \u201ca great thing for our brand.\u201d For Target, it was also a bit personal: With its operations concentrated in the very city at the center of the 2020 unrest (and where a Target location was damaged during the ensuing protests), Cornell noted that George Floyd \u201ccould have been one of my Target team members<\/a>.\u201d The turnaround this year, despite such strong statements, was what really shocked Black leaders like Bryant.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Nico Lang
\n The Trump Administration\u2019s War on DEI Has a New Target. And It\u2019s Going to Cost People Their Lives.
\n Read More\n <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

But Target had also been steadily backtracking for a while. Anti-LGBTQ+ Republicans riding high off the success of their Bud Light campaign soon made Target their next \u2026\u00a0target, successfully bullying the retailer into removing its once prominent Pride Month\u2013themed merchandise<\/a> across several stores. The timing of this backlash, arising right as Target\u2019s business began to suffer hits from postpandemic shopping trends, likely prompted Cornell to ensure that future iterations of Pride branding literally wore less pro-LGBTQ+ sentiments on their sleeves<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yet what Cornell clearly missed is that Target is far less vulnerable to the effects of anti-\u201cDEI\u201d campaigns\u2014now expanded by MAGA bigots<\/a> to encompass even basic acknowledgments of marginalized communities by any institution\u2014than the Bud Lights of America. As CNN Business has<\/a> frequently pointed out<\/a>, Target has a \u201cmore progressive base of customers\u201d than many of the other companies harangued by conservatives. The daughters of Target\u2019s founder wrote a letter to the Los Angeles Times in February decrying this caving by Target and other corporations as \u201cundermining the very principles that have made their companies a success<\/a>.\u201d And the Trump administration\u2019s own attacks on DEI have run into legal challenges<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Notably, the companies that have recognized this and acted accordingly are doing much better these days. Costco leadership made a big show of rejecting<\/a> an anti-DEI shareholder resolution introduced by a conservative think tank, and it has avoided the steep falls in store visits<\/a> that have hit newly DEI-phobic chains like Target and Walmart. (However, it has also displeased liberal customers by refusing to stock mifepristone<\/a>.) John Deere, which shed its DEI commitments<\/a> last year after right-wing social media backlash, saw investors reject a similar resolution to Costco\u2019s<\/a> not long after Trump\u2019s inauguration. Apple\u2019s happy investors<\/a> have also made their pro-DEI stance clear<\/a>, even as CEO Tim Cook attempts to mollify an unhappy Trump with gold-plated gifts<\/a>. As Axios found in a survey<\/a>, companies that have stuck to their DEI policies (e.g., Delta Air Lines, Kroger, Patagonia) have better reputations with their employees and the broader public; Walmart, which initially cowed on diversity thanks to conservatives, has since joined Target in warning investors that opposition to DEI rollbacks<\/a> could affect its sales.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There\u2019s Something Very Dark Happening to Millennials and Gen Z Adults
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the Most Misunderstood Pet in America. If Only You Knew Where It Came From\u2014and What It\u2019s Capable Of.
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

My Mom Is Offering Me a Free Place to Stay for College. But There\u2019s a Big Catch.
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<\/p>\n

Is There Really a \u201cHostage\u201d in the Texas Statehouse?
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

It remains to be seen if other companies should also worry. Big Tech firms that have eagerly sucked up to Trump have the privilege of avoiding blowback, considering their monopolistic positions in their sectors. (The recent sell-offs in their stocks<\/a> have more to do with jitters over poor A.I. investment returns<\/a> than with anything else.) But there are rolling waves of boycotts planned for multiple other DEI-less companies, including actions against Uber and PepsiCo<\/a> to be held next month. A Harris poll from February found that about 25 percent of respondents had stopped going to favored stores for moral reasons, a trend that was especially heightened among Democratic and Black Americans<\/a>; a follow-up poll in March found that majorities of Gen Z, Black, and Latino respondents<\/a> were joining such boycotts. Indeed, shoppers of color are persisting in the charge<\/a> against corporate America\u2019s turn away from underprivileged communities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The effectiveness of such boycotts will be dependent on myriad factors, including consumer demographics, the market power, and the ability to withstand pressure from the federal government. But the Target shake-up might just be a Bud Light moment for pro-DEI activists. Five years after the summer of 2020, Black Americans have not forgotten the promises made. No matter what<\/a> Trump or the reactionary commentariat<\/a> would have you believe, more companies that choose to ditch woke may go broke.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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