Target is down bad after bending the knee to Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda to end diversity, equity, and inclusion programs across the United States.
BOSSIP previously reported on the company’s struggling sales following several boycotts from the Black community as a direct response to the dismantling of DEI.
Many of us watched Target go to great lengths to put Black owned brands on their shelves during the 2020 Summer of Protest, following the police murder of George Floyd and the reckless police killing of Breonna Taylor. But as fair-weather brands tend to do, Target viewed Trump’s reelection as a shift in culture and chose to ride the MAGA wave of divisiveness straight into the poor house.
![Brian Cornell CEO of Target spoke to team members at Target Center Thursday September 15, 2016 in Minneapolis, MN. ] Target holds its Fall Nation Meeting at the Target Center. Jerry Holt / jerry. Holt@Startribune.com](https://bossip.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2025/08/17557867476714.jpg?w=1024&strip=all&quality=80)
According to Fortune, the company’s CEO Brian Cornell is stepping down from his role after 11 years to make room for the new chief executive, Michael Fiddelke, who began working for the Bullseye brand back in 2003 as an intern. The move comes as Target announced yet another quarterly loss of 1.9% of comparable sales, and projects that 2025 will end with a loss of overall sales for the third consecutive year. There are likely many factors that have contributed to Target’s fall from financial grace, but the boycott launched by Pastor Jamal Bryant of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta cannot be summarily dismissed as one of those factors.
Left-wing political ideology wasn’t the only cause for declining performance, as sales losses came from both sides of the aisle. CNN reported that quarterly sales dipped for the first time in six years back in 2023 when conservatives closed their wallets in bigoted backlash to an LGBTQ+ Pride Month campaign. Fiddelke has his work cut out for him as Target stock prices dropped 10% when news of his promotion went public.
CBS News notes that Target has also not done itself any favors by ending its long-time policy of price matching with competitors like Walmart, a company that is enjoying a sales boost despite the economy of Trump’s petty trade war tariffs, Amazon, and Costco.
The boycotts will not end until Target does right by the Black community. Somebody better tell Fiddelke what the deal is.
