Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Democrat presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, once dismissed Americans’ concerns about the corporate LGBTQ+ push.
Walz made the remark in 2023 in reaction to criticisms from South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), who said in an interview days prior that conservatives should think twice about shopping at Target following revelations that the store donated to the NDN Collective — a group seeking to remove Mount Rushmore, deeming it an “international symbol of White supremacy” — in 2022.
“I am like a lot of Americans,” Noem told Fox & Friends at the time. “I love to shop at Target, we do. But we just can’t anymore.”
Walz responded to Noem during an interview on MSNBC, speaking to host Jonathan Capehart.
“I’m in a neighborhood where, you know, a governor next door to me, this week, made the case that a rainbow on a t-shirt at Target is destroying our democracy. That’s nonsense. That’s just — that’s just insane. And I think most people here in Minnesota agree,” Walz said, failing to mention that the Pride Month apparel was not the specific source of Noem’s criticism in the remark he was supposedly reacting to.
However, Walz continued to use it to draw a contrast between himself and his conservative neighbors.
“When we put folks in office who are more focused on improving lives than railing on woke corporations, you get real results,” Walz said.
The fact that he immediately pointed to those concerned about the LGBTQ+ push by woke corporations — without Noem actually focusing on that in her specific remark — is even more telling, as it shows how Walz really feels about Americans who are sick of the pro-LGBTQ+ agenda being shoved down their throats — and those of their children.
Furthermore, in 2023 — the year Walz made that comment — Target was the focus of intense scrutiny not simply because of rainbow shirts but because of its association with the UK-based designer Abprallen, which states that “Satan loves you,” and “Satan respects pronouns.”
As Breitbart News reported at the time:
The individual behind the brand identifies as a transgender gay man — a biological woman attracted to males — and satanist, even paying homage to the satanic figure Baphomet and asserting that “Satan respects pronouns.” While that design was not offered at Target stores, the woke company offered two designs from the designer — a top reading “Cure Transphobia Not Trans People” and a tote bag reading “Too Queer for Here.” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) was among those who criticized Target’s decision to push this agenda.
Target eventually removed the apparel associated with the designer after much backlash.
Minnesota Democrat Governor Tim Walz says it's "insane" people would be upset with Target for partnering with a "satanist" designer to promote trans products for children and donating millions of dollars to an organization pushing to shut down Mt. Rushmore pic.twitter.com/VR1jih1U1Q
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 11, 2023
However, that was not the end of the LGBTQ+ controversy for Target in 2023, as it also offered an array of pride-themed items for children and babies as well as transgender swimsuits for adults with “tuck-friendly” and “light-binding” effects. Perhaps what is worse, some of the apparel geared toward children in Target’s pride section openly pushed the radical transgender agenda, labeling some items as “thoughtfully fit” for what it described as “multiple” gender expressions.
It remains unclear if Walz believes people who are concerned about such things — including Target’s pride section once pushing the transgender agenda on children — are also “insane.”
