 we're gonna be pressing all the managers at every single target. We're gonna find and expose all the LGBT supporters that all the employees that have supported it we're gonna be exposing them. I also like to hunt LGBT supporters on my free time. That's one of my favorite pastimes. We're also gonna be going on hunting expeditions pretty soon, hunting the LGBT supporters across Arizona and Phoenix. So keep an eye out for that because you're not safe. If you support the LGBT agenda, you're not safe. It's disgusting. The videos that you just watched were of right wing agitator Ethan Schmidt who is threatening to harass managers of target across Arizona. And he also threatened to hunt LGBT supporters. Now those clips, believe it or not, were from last year. And it wasn't enough to dissuade target from removing their pride displays. But in 2023, however, it is an entirely different game. And the threats are coming from not just right wing agitators like him, but all across the country as conservatives film themselves being outraged in targets over their pride displays. Now this year, the threats have been so overwhelming that target is taking action and they're pulling their pride displays or they're moving them to the back. As the Daily Beast reports, target has announced it will be making some significant changes following backlash from right wing media over its Pride Month merchandise. The retail giant told the Daily Beast that it is removing some items from its stores and making a number of other changes. Target would not go into details about which specific products would be removed or what exactly would be changed. But a spokesperson said, quote, since introducing this year's collection, we've experienced threats impacting our team members' sense of safety and wellbeing while at work. Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans including removing some items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior. Now we'll get to one of the items that I think is driving the outrage, but first and foremost, specifically what they're experiencing according to The Wall Street Journal shared by Matt Novick on Twitter. In some cases, people have confronted workers in stores, knock down pride merchandise displays, which is believable, and put threatening posts on social media with video from inside stores. Now Matt also shared some posts from Target's employees made on the store's subreddit where they all are sharing stories about customers complaining about the pride displays and how devastated they were that for the first time in years, the pride displays were moved to the back of the store which just makes them kind of feel like they're invalid and not seen by their employer. And to be clear, the totality of their pride collection is controversial, especially given this political climate since conservatives have decided to make LGBTQ plus issues their main go-to battle currently. But at the center of the controversy is seemingly a tuck-friendly swimsuit for trans women specifically. So the far-right group gazed against groomers posted a photo of a tuck-friendly swimsuit and claimed that it was for children, but it is not. That's factually incorrect. The claim was debunked by the Associated Press, but I mean, once it blew up on social media, it was already too late. You had a right-wing provocateur is like Alex Stein filming himself trying one on because of course that's a very straight and hetero thing to do. You had target CEO being called a groomer because his stores are apparently selling tuck-friendly swimsuits to children. But no, they're not for children. The problem is that once one of these false claims blows up on social media, it becomes very, very difficult, if not impossible to correct the record. And that's what I think happened here. I'm sure that there are other items in Target's pride collection that conservatives are outraged about, but that seemingly is the one that was like the biggest issue for all of them. It's not being marketed to kids though, but this is what conservatives do time and again. They take one thing, an adult product usually, and they lie and claim that it's being marketed to children. And that's how they gin up controversy. They're even doing this with Bud Light. I mean, do you think that many children are drinking Bud Light? I certainly hope not. But Ted Cruz and Marshall Blackburn are trying to investigate Bud Light because they believe that Dylan Mulvaney, since she was part of their ad campaign for a couple of social media posts, well, that's tantamount to them marketing to children since Dylan Mulvaney is somebody who is an influencer that appeals to young people. I mean, there's no basis for this, right? But that's what they do. Now, of course, since Target caved, you have far-right figures, including stochastic terrorist and self-proclaimed theocratic fascist Matt Walsh celebrating Target's decision, saying trans activists have gone everything they want by crying hysterically and using emotional manipulation. They are now running into a faction of the right that doesn't give a shit about their theatrics or their feelings. They don't know what to do about it. They're panicked. He adds, conservatives are nice people who like to get along with others. That has been used against them for a long time. That's why they needed those of us who are incorrigible assholes to come along and do what they didn't have the stomach for. They complained about our methods, but now I think they are starting to understand. So he's basically bragging about using fear and harassment to get what they want. And unfortunately, it's working. He's right that it is, it's working. It's effective. And I just wanna take a moment to listen to some rhetoric from other right-wing propagandists because you're going to notice that we're not just hearing typical bigotry that we heard from 10, even 20 years ago. The rhetoric is getting increasingly violent. Let's listen. As I said, we have them backed into a corner and now is absolutely the time for us to pounce. So do not shop at Target or else you're gay and you're a pervert. And that's all I have to say about that. And it looks, Target is our, it looks like they're caving. They say they're putting the clothes in the back. I don't want Target to go bankrupt. I want them to close. I want chapter 11, okay? Somebody else can buy them up. No, I- We can serve it. It's gonna be a bunch of empty buildings. Yeah, I want them to go chapter 11. People say, what does success look like? Chapter 11, okay? I want, I want skull and bones all the way down to the absolute nails of the stores. Yeah, that's the only thing they understand is force. Pain is a teacher. Whether or not you target boycotts entirely, whether or not you boycott Target, you target boycotts, you boycott Target is entirely up to you. As for what's happening in this country, as horrified as you may be, no matter what you do, eventually this problem won't exist anymore either because the people have sterilized themselves and then they age out, they get older and they don't reproduce or because your activism puts an illegal end to it. The end result can only be one thing, this ideology can't persist. See, before when right-wingers would talk about LGBTQ plus people, they just say that we should be denied civil rights and whatnot, but here we're in an entirely different era where Tim Pohl, a self-proclaimed centrist, is saying that conservative activism is going to put an illegal end to LGBTQ people. Charlie Kirk talked about skull and bones and how force is necessary because that's the only thing that these people understand. Candace Owens called anyone who shops at Target gays and perverts basically conflating homosexuality with perversion. I mean, the rhetoric is getting increasingly violent if not outright violent and incitement at this point. And it's getting worse. I mean, remember how they responded to the club que shooting back in December, but now you hear somebody like Tim Pohl openly talking about how well there's gonna be an illegal end put to this community? Like for a moment, just think about if we had a hypothetical Hitlerian figure emerge on the right, which is not out of the realm of possibility. And after this Hitlerian figure was elected president, he explicitly said, listen, since LGBTQ plus people pose a danger to children, we're gonna have to put them in special camps and extra judicially try them with the death penalty because of the danger that they pose to children. Like it's an extreme hypothetical, right? But imagine this came to fruition. How do you think people like Matt Walsher, Tim Pohl would respond honestly? Like how do you think they would digest that news? We all know deep down in our souls, they would not just celebrate, they would defend it because their rhetoric is escalating so fast that the only logical conclusion from that ideology is genocide. Now I'm not saying it's gonna come to that, but they're getting closer and closer and closer to the line. How far are we until they just outright say you should do violence against LGBTQ plus people? I mean, some are already doing that, but people with large platforms are very close to just saying the quiet part loud. It's horrifying and it should be a wake-up call to people who aren't paying attention to the normies, for example. But thankfully, even though right-wingers are celebrating this, there are a lot of people who are reacting strongly on the opposite side and perhaps the only Democratic politician who constantly pushes back against this anti-LGBTQ plus rhetoric is California Governor Gavin Newsom. And even if he's a corporate Democrat and I disagree with him on economic policies, you've got to give him credit words too because he's one of the few Democrats who has the gumption to actually say this is unacceptable. So he responded via Twitter to this news saying, CEO of Target, Brian Cornell, selling out the LGBTQ plus community to extremists is a real profile and courage. This isn't just a couple of stores in the South. This is a systematic attack on the gay community happening across the country. Wake up America, this doesn't stop here. You're black, you're Asian, you're Jewish, you're a woman, you're next. And he's absolutely correct about that. And I wish that national Democrats would take this threat as seriously. I mean, when was the last time we saw Joe Biden denounce this anti LGBTQ plus rhetoric? I mean, it is genocidal rhetoric we are seeing, especially with regard to trans people. And the only time or the last time I heard Biden respond to this was in an interview with Cal Penn. That was months ago. It's time to wake up. I mean, as president, you have your bully pulpit. You can make a difference and denounce this, but we just don't hear much from the National Democratic Party. Now there's some more reactions that I want to share here. Also Michael Edison Hayden of the Southern Poverty Law Center denounced this move saying, Target claims that they are removing pride merchandise from their stores to protect the security of their employees. The message that anti LGBTQ plus bigots and fascists will receive from this is that making violent threats works. This will get worse. Also Dr. William Horne echoed the same sentiment, adding, dear target as a historian who studies white supremacist movements, I want you to know that placating groups like this only increases these vigilante and paramilitary threats and violence. That's what you're doing here. Yeah, and I agree with what he's saying here. You never negotiate with terrorists. You never, ever cave to the mob because if you give them an inch, they're going to take a mile. And to be crystal clear here, the workers absolutely do not deserve to bear the brunt of the GOP's culture war. But it's incumbent on target to respond, not by caving, but by protecting their employees. You can allocate additional labor for security at locations that are particularly vulnerable. You can have a corporate customer service line where some executive can get all these messages from hateful bigoted customers. I mean, you can do things that protect employees and doesn't give in to the mob because caving only makes matters worse. And it also makes your LGBTQ plus employees and customers feel like they're expendable. But in truth, they are expendable to target. And to be clear, these corporations were never your friends. They were always willing to throw queer people under a bus. The second it became convenient and we're seeing that happen right now. I mean, it's called rainbow capitalism for a reason, folks. It's about making them money, not equality. They never cared about that. And pride to be clear, it never hinged on target support. Pride isn't about how many multinational corporations temporarily changed their logos to rainbow colors because that really is a recent phenomenon. Ask older gay people if they saw this back in the 70s and 80s, they didn't. It's about you. That's what pride is about. Pride is about you feeling comfortable in your own skin despite all of society trying to force you back into the closet. And understand that this is a difficult time and I get it if you don't feel very happy. I myself don't feel very happy lately. I don't feel very prideful or the need to celebrate. But here's the thing. If you're a queer person, that instinct to retreat and curl up into a ball is precisely why pride is necessary. Your very existence, especially in 2023 America, is under attack. I mean, just getting out of bed is a victory worth celebrating in my opinion because despite all of the hate, you are still here. We're all still here. And despite the shame that you once felt, you're still here and you're not going back into the closet anytime soon. That's what pride is about. It's not about target. It's about you remaining defiant and being unapologetically you against all odds. And that's not gonna be suddenly taken away from you if target chooses to change the merchandise that they sell in June. This is something that is innate, something that you have that they can never take from you. It's not about corporations. It's not about capitalism. It's about you and your sense of confidence and virtue and well-being and value. And to be clear, we have the advantage because our opponents, quite frankly, are fucking dipshits. For example, Ethan Schmidt, the guy who claimed that he's gonna be hunting LGBT supporters. Well, a target employee actually showed you how to deal with people like that. And you're gonna learn that these dipshits are paper tigers. Let's watch. You guys support the Satanic pride propaganda? I provide, yeah, both. You support it? Satan and pride. You support Satan? Mm-hmm. What's God gonna think of that? I don't believe in God. Wow. Did you hear that response? Wow. That's what happens when he hunts down an LGBT supporter. He gets triggered and he wants her to fear how triggered he is, but she very clearly didn't give him an inch. She didn't give a shit. She then asked him if he needed help finding anything. He apparently made it clear that he was just there to start shit. And do you wanna know what she did? She kicked his ass out of the store. Her and another manager escorted him out and as he was trying to yell at other customers, they shut him down. That's how you handle these dipshits. And that same individual. So this year for Pride, this is how he's gonna take a stand. By giving large multinational corporations even more money because he's encouraging his followers to buy Pride products to burn them. Let's make it great again, guys. Let's make a Pride flag challenge, destroy the Pride flag in the most creative way, post it online and see what we can do, folks. So one down, shame. Actually, the corporation who you bought that from wins because you already gave them your money. So they couldn't care less. If you burned it or wiped your ass with it, it's a piece of material and you paid for it. So they don't give a shit what you do with it. You burning that is as meaningless as your pathetic fucking existence. These corporations don't have some innate virtues where they care about LGBTQ plus people and equality. They don't care. They market to queer people to make money. So you burning that does absolutely fuck all in the grand scheme of things. But I will say that when Ethan Schmidt finally does have sex with a guy, I mean the world is going to hear him bust because you know it's taking every ounce of willpower he has to suppress the homosexual demon who possessed him. He's not fooling anyone. But there's one more video that I wanna play for you to kind of lighten the mood since this has been a very depressing video in a week of depressing topics. So back in circa 2010 about after Citizens United was just approved by the Supreme Court, Target was facing scrutiny again, albeit from liberals and leftists, for donating to the super PACs of anti-gay Republican politicians who were against same-sex marriage. Now as much as conservatives are torturing Target now, nothing they do can compare to the response from some leftists who chose to take a literal marching band into a Target. And even though their motivations were pure and all their hearts were probably in the right place, this was by far one of the most cringe-worthy things I've ever seen in my entire life. And I honestly haven't been the same since Washington. So let's take a look. Target ain't people, so why should it be allowed to play around with our democracy? Target ain't people, so why should it be that they should play around with our democracy? Target ain't people, so why should it be allowed to play around with our democracy? Why should it be? Mm, bless their hearts. I feel like watching that again is only going to contribute to our collective depression and de-realization, but it's worth it, okay? But the point in showing you that video, aside from the entertainment value and the throwback, is to demonstrate that these corporations, they were never true allies to queer people ever. Their newfound support is welcome, I guess, since it helps to normalize queer visibility, but no one, absolutely no one, should base their self-worth on the approval of a multinational corporation. Queer people are valid regardless if they have the support of a fucking target or a Walmart or a McDonald's. That doesn't matter at all. It's irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Remember that. And if you're a target employee, well, as a former retail worker myself, you have my utmost sympathy. So target is caved to the mob and this is going to be a trend and more corporations are going to buckle because they're right. They're organized and they're louder than ever and it might backfire in the grand scheme of things. It might turn off normies in the 2024 election, but what they're doing is still having a demonstrable impact and you need to be aware of it and understand that the rhetoric is only going to continue to escalate and get increasingly violent. So do with that information what you need to do with it, but try not to let it get you depressed because this news week has been a killer on morale for sure and it's not going to end anytime soon. So disconnect, unplug from the news if you need to.