After more than a decade steering Target into a political minefield of “woke” activism, CEO Brian Cornell has announced he will step down on February 1, 2026. His replacement, current COO Michael Fiddelke, promises to focus on the basics — improving stores, strengthening online shopping, and most importantly, restoring trust with customers.
The announcement comes after years of decline for the once-beloved retail giant. Target has seen sales slump, inventory pile up, and its stock value collapse by more than 25% over the last five years. But it wasn’t just poor logistics or market pressures dragging the company down. The real damage came from its decision to embrace radical progressive causes at the expense of everyday families.
From pushing divisive DEI initiatives to aggressively promoting LGBTQ+ merchandise — even targeting children with rainbow-themed products and gender ideology — Target alienated millions of customers. Conservatives finally pushed back, organizing boycotts and voting with their wallets. The result? A corporate giant humbled, forced to reckon with the reality that political activism is no substitute for sound business.
Target isn’t alone in learning this painful lesson. Anheuser-Busch, parent company of Bud Light, is also pulling back from years of pandering to the left. In a stunning move, the brewing titan ended its 30-year partnership with St. Louis PrideFest for 2025, a clear sign that corporate America is rethinking whether constant virtue-signaling is worth the price tag.
Of course, the activists are furious. Marty Zuniga, President of Pride St. Louis, lashed out in a recent interview, accusing Anheuser-Busch of abandoning the community. “We were devastated,” he complained, framing the decision as part of a broader erasure of the LGBTQ agenda. He went so far as to suggest the company no longer values the “community,” ignoring the reality that most Americans are simply tired of being force-fed politics every time they buy a T-shirt or a beer.
But corporations are beginning to hear the message loud and clear. Customers don’t want their local grocery run or their weekend six-pack tied to an ideological agenda. They want quality, affordability, and respect for traditional values — not rainbow marketing campaigns or lectures on diversity quotas.
For too long, companies like Target and Anheuser-Busch treated conservatives as disposable, assuming the cultural left held all the power. But as boycotts gained traction and profits tumbled, the façade began to crack. Business leaders are finally rediscovering that pandering to loud activists online may win applause from the media, but it loses the trust of working families who make up the backbone of their customer base.
With Target’s leadership change, there’s hope that one of America’s largest retailers may finally abandon its obsession with progressive politics and get back to what made it successful: serving everyday Americans. If Michael Fiddelke truly wants to restore “customer trust,” he’ll need to put families first, ditch the woke distractions, and return Target to the values that built it in the first place.
Corporate America should take note: patriot consumers are awake — and they’re done footing the bill for woke failures.
