The Patriot Post® · A Targeted Attack

Target is a retail store that sells pretty much everything from clothes to furniture. It is popular among suburban moms who like to peruse its aisles with a Starbucks drink in hand. This scene of modern America has been shattered again by the approach of June.

June is Pride Month — as everyone is now aware. Most stores on the sixth month of the year now look like a rainbow threw up in them. But Target definitely has been raising the bar.

Last year, Target got in trouble for its collaboration with TomboyX. Those products featured chest binders and packing underwear (underwear for women who wish to pretend they have a male appendage). This promotion of a harmful ideology was bad enough for young girls who are gender-confused. Let’s face it: Target, pharmaceutical companies, Planned Parenthood, and more all see this cultural phenomenon of transgenderism — which is mostly a social contagion — as big business.

This year, Target decided to partner with another collaborator, Abprallen. The designer for this target line identifies as a gay trans man (translation: a straight gender-confused girl). Abprallen is a UK-based company that champions Satanism as well as LGBTQ+ Pride. It infamously designed a shirt that said “Satan Respects Pronouns” for its own company. The designs for Target were hardly less provocative, with one sweatshirt declaring “Cure Transphobia, Not Trans People” with a pastel Rod of Asclepius — weirdly with only one snake. In the greek myth, Asclepius has two snakes on his rod.

According to National Review, Target was fully aware of the Satanist leanings of Abprallen before offering a collaboration.

To add a cherry on top of this offensive nightmare, Target is also selling children’s pride clothes and swimsuits that are “tuck-friendly.” Let us add here that “fact-checkers” have been all over conservatives, stating that the “tuck-friendly” suits were made only for adults. David Harsanyi, senior editor for The Federalist, fact-checks the fact-checkers: “This AP ‘factcheck’ says it’s ‘False’ that Target sold ‘tuck-friendly’ swimsuits in kids sizes. If you read to end, you learn that Target only sells kids’ swimskirts w/tag reading: ‘Thoughtfully Fit on Multiple Body Types and Gender Expressions.’ Oh.”

You know a woke company really screwed up when AP fact-checkers are rushing to its defense (and obscuring the truth).

The backlash by shoppers has rightly been intense. Target is getting hit on all sides. Conservatives, the group Gays Against Groomers, and frankly even a portion of Democrats don’t agree with transgender ideology or pushing it on vulnerable children.

Many of the franchise locations have moved their Pride collections to the back of the stores. Emergency meetings were had by Target executives. They explained the new product placement, claiming that employees “felt threatened,” especially in their southern store locations.

However, Target has also removed the most offensive collection (Adprallen) from online availability. As The Daily Wire’s Megan Basham pointed out: “Target is removing some Pride items from the stores AND the website, per company statement. Why would [Target] include online if they were only reacting to violent confrontations in stores.” Political pundit Liz Wheeler implored: “DO NOT fall for Target removing stuff from the Satanist designer from their website. Target isn’t apologizing. Target doesn’t think they did wrong. Target is blaming YOU, calling you extremists, as their excuse for removing the Satanist items. Do not back down.”

Twitter was abuzz with reactions from the public. The loudest calls of all were for boycotts.

Conservative author Bethany S. Mandel wrote: “Bud Light learned an important lesson about wading into the culture wars recently. But partnering with Dylan Mulveny [sic] is nothing compared to what Target is doing. It’s time for Target to get the Bud Light treatment.”

Radio talk-show host Erick Erickson commented: “Target has partnered with a company that promotes Satanism to produce its PRIDE clothing collection. If you thought Bud Light went too far, you might need to consider shopping elsewhere.”

Still others brought up a different Target collaborator: beloved “Fixer Upper” personalities Chip and Joanna Gaines. Their company, Magnolia, has a collection sold at Target called Hearth and Hand. Chip and Jo are famously devout Christians, but this association with Target seems very counter to their brand. Joel Berry, managing editor for The Babylon Bee, posted his thoughts on the continued association: “I don’t want to judge Chip & Joanna Gaines over this situation with Target — there are plenty of people doing that already. But I think their conundrum illustrates Jesus’s statement that it’s impossible to serve both God and money.”

This debacle is not only entangling popular TV personalities, it’s complicating the lives of everyday American women.

As stated earlier, Target has long been considered an oasis for women to shop and sip. Target may also be the most convenient or least expensive option for them and their families for buying the necessities. They are presented with a grave moral dilemma: boycott Target, which is advocating and making money off of transgender items, or shop at an alternative retailer like Walmart. It is a sacrifice of greater weight than Anheuser-Busch because, for some, there aren’t other better options. Christian podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey encouraged shoppers: “Christian women: maybe you feel that an all-out Target boycott is infeasible. But I encourage you to at least do it for the month of June. I promise it’s possible!!”

The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh also remarked: “It’s up to conservative women to make the Target boycott work. If you guys mobilize, you could crush Target. It’s up to you.”

Walsh has also pointed out on his podcast that conservatives cannot protest every company that tries to sell transgenderism to our kids or teams up with Satanists, but we can pick our battles. Target seems to be a particularly vulnerable company at the moment. Its stock took a nosedive after May 1, 2022, and has yet to really recover. Then take into account store closings that have occurred because of constant shoplifting in bluer cities, add in a boycott from people who are socially conservative, and perhaps the message will get across to Target and other companies that want to wade into the culture wars.

We the People still have some power, and we don’t like the social agenda Target and others are pushing. Stop targeting our kids.