Donald Trump on Tuesday demanded that the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain restore its recently changed logo, the latest in a series of actions by the president attempting to exert control over private businesses.
“Cracker Barrel should go back to the old logo,” Trump wrote, adding that the “free publicity” and a “major news conference” announcing the change would make the company “a winner again.” He added that following his commands would mirror his actions in turning America from a “dead” country a year ago into the “hottest country anywhere in the world.”
In reality, Trump has steadily lost public support since being sworn into office in January and worldwide respect for the United States has dropped considerably compared to the support the nation had under former President Joe Biden one year ago.
He followed up his order to Cracker Barrel with a post to the official White House X account featuring a photoshopped version of the company’s logo with an image of Trump as the old man leaning on the barrel. The post was captioned, “Go woke, go broke.”
This is most definitely the most constructive use of the Trump administration’s time.
Conservatives have used “woke” as a pejorative term to complain about efforts to combat racism. Other Republicans have also complained that the new Cracker Barrel logo is “woke” without explaining how a streamlined logo is supposedly “woke.”
In reality, Cracker Barrel officials explained that the new logo is part of a campaign to modernize the restaurant chain and to appeal to younger patrons.
“Cracker Barrel needs to feel like the Cracker Barrel for today and for tomorrow,” CEO Julie Felss Masino told “Good Morning America” on Aug. 19.
The episode is the latest example of Trump using his bully pulpit to control what private businesses do, in this instance even dictating how a company should market itself. Traditionally, Republicans have accused Democrats of engaging in “socialism” for even mild suggestions about what companies should do—generally relating to business practices that affect the public good, not minutiae like their logo designs.
In fact, the Trump administration announced on Friday that it had converted part of a government grant to Intel into a 10% equity stake in the company. Unlike the auto bailout under the Obama administration, there is no end date to this purchase.
Trump has also said that he plans “many more” deals like the Intel arrangement, using federal power to intermingle the government he leads with private business.
Media companies have been the most visible target of Trump’s interference in business. In July, he received a legal payout from CBS parent Paramount, which had a multibillion-dollar merger approved soon after. Around the same time, CBS decided to kill “The Late Show,” hosted by longtime Trump critic Stephen Colbert.
Related | CBS cancels Trump critic Colbert’s ‘Late Show’—and faces sharp blowback
Trump’s anti-woke instincts aren’t even very good, undermining his push to control private business.
The recently released “Superman” movie derided by conservative critics as too “woke” has been a box office success, earning over $346 million as the third-highest grossing film of the year. In the other column is Target, which responded to Trump’s election win by cutting its diversity initiatives in an attempt to get in line with the administration’s anti-“woke” branding.
The result? Sales have plummeted and the company recently announced that its CEO who chose to get in line with Trump is on his way out.
How’s this for a catchphrase: Going with Trump means profits in the dump.