Nike’s shares just hit a 12-year low. On August 17, 2026, the stock closed at $39.08 — down roughly 78% from its November 2021 peak near $177–$179. The company has wiped out nearly $200 billion in market value. Digital sales have slumped. Greater China revenue has fallen about 30% since 2021. Competitors like Hoka, On, New Balance, and Adidas have taken share.
Sen. Ted Cruz didn’t mince words. After a lifetime of wearing Nike athletic gear, he said the company lost him for good. The 2018 Colin Kaepernick campaign irritated him. Canceling the Betsy Ross flag Air Max shoe in 2019 — because Kaepernick claimed the flag of the American Revolution somehow evoked slavery and white nationalism — sealed it. “It showed that their marketing plan was America-hate,” Cruz posted. “I went out & bought brand new shoes, shorts, t-shirts. Turns out I wasn’t the only one. #GoWokeGoBroke.”
This is not complicated. When a company decides its core customers — the millions of Americans who actually buy the shoes, beer, toys, and razors — are the problem, those customers eventually notice. They vote with their wallets. Sales drop. Stock price follows. Brand loyalty evaporates. The pattern has repeated for years, and Nike is simply the latest high-profile casualty.
NIKE Shares PLUMMET 78% from Highs: Erases $200 Billion from Market. Reaches New 12 Year Low. It looks like making Colin Kaepernick and Dylan Mulvaney the face of their brand is finally catching up with them. Shareholders are not going to like this. Go woke, go broke. Fuckin A as Sgt Pat loves to say
NIKE Shares PLUMMET 78% from Highs: Erases $200 Billion from Market. Reaches New 12 Year Low.
It looks like making Colin Kaepernick and Dylan Mulvaney the face of their brand is finally catching up with them.
Shareholders are not going to like this.
Go woke, go broke.a a pic.twitter.com/1LbMX15A7i
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 19, 2026
Bud Light: The Textbook Case
In 2023 Anheuser-Busch InBev partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, sending personalized cans celebrating “365 Days of Girlhood.” Blue-collar Bud Light drinkers — the brand’s actual base — revolted. Sales cratered by double digits almost immediately. Bud Light lost its long-held position as America’s top-selling beer in key channels. Modelo Especial and Michelob Ultra took share. By 2026, AB InBev was openly shifting marketing dollars away from Bud Light toward other brands. Volume forecasts for 2026 sat near 12.7 million barrels — a fraction of the brand’s peak of roughly 41 million. The company has never fully recovered the lost ground.
Target: Pride Displays and the $15 Billion Hit
Target went all-in on 2023 Pride merchandise that included “tuck-friendly” swimsuits and other items many parents found inappropriate for a family retailer. Displays went up front. Backlash was immediate and fierce. The company scrambled, pulled some product, and moved displays. Sales and foot traffic took a measurable hit. Stock lost more than $10–15 billion in market value in short order at the height of the controversy. Comparable sales stayed soft for multiple quarters afterward. Target has spent years trying to thread the needle between the left that demanded more and the customers who walked away. The financial results show the cost.
Disney: From Magic Kingdom to Political Combatant
Disney decided to pick a fight with Florida over the Parental Rights in Education law (the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill). CEO Bob Chapek publicly opposed it. Governor Ron DeSantis responded by stripping the company’s special governing district. Disney poured money into the political battle. Meanwhile, “woke” content decisions produced box-office disappointments — Lightyear, Strange World, The Marvels — and Disney+ subscriber losses. Stock fell sharply from its highs. Bob Iger later admitted the company needed to “quiet down” the politics and focus on entertainment. Theme-park expansion plans were delayed by the self-inflicted political war. Families noticed.
Gillette: Lecturing the Customers
In 2019 Gillette released “The Best Men Can Be,” an ad that framed traditional masculinity as the problem. The core male customer base rejected the lecture. Procter & Gamble took an $8 billion non-cash write-down on the Gillette brand months later. Market share continued to erode to cheaper competitors. The company eventually dialed back the messaging.
The Pattern Holds
Nike, Bud Light, Target, Disney, Gillette — different industries, same mistake. Each elevated progressive activism, DEI quotas, race-obsessed marketing, or gender ideology above the product and the customer. Each treated large portions of the American public — especially MAGA voters, working-class men, parents, and traditionalists — as an afterthought or an enemy. Each paid for it in lost sales, eroded brand equity, and shareholder value.
The theory is not complicated and it is not new. Companies exist to make money by serving customers. When they decide their higher purpose is to lecture, shame, or replace those customers, the customers leave. Wall Street eventually notices. Rivals who stay focused on quality, value, and America take the business.
MAGA America has been patient. It has also been consistent. Buy from people who respect you. Walk away from those who don’t. Nike’s 12-year stock low is just the latest scoreboard update. Get woke, go broke is not a slogan. It is a market reality.
Watch this and understand why MAGA detests Nike and all woke companies.
Oh dear, Nike. https://t.co/nRrTurF2z3 pic.twitter.com/5Ltp4KjERK
— XX-XY Athletics (@xx_xyathletics) August 20, 2026
— The Whatfinger News Team: Ben and Luke
Sgt. Pat: “I told you sons of bitches years ago on Whatfinger—Nike turned its back on America the second they made that flag-hating punk their poster boy and cancelled the Betsy Ross shoe. Now the stock’s face-down in the dirt at a 12-year low and they’re crying about ‘market conditions.’ No. That’s what happens when you spit on the people who built your brand. Get woke, go broke. Good riddance to all woke.”
Resources
- Nike’s Stock Plunges to 12-Year Low as Woke Push Backfires – Slay News
- Nike Just Hit a 12-Year Low. Is the Bottom Near? | The Motley Fool
- Nike’s stock hit a 12-year low. Ted Cruz says blame… – Inkl/Mediaite
- Nike on its last legs as stock price plummets after woke push blows up in its face | Daily Mail
- Nike’s Stock Collapse Vindicates a Warning From 2021 – Legal Insurrection
- AB InBev shifts marketing focus as Bud Light sales decline – Sports Business Journal
- Bud Light Is on Track to Lose 3.1 Million More U.S. Barrels in 2026
- 2023 Target Pride Month merchandise backlash – Wikipedia
- Target Sales Drop After ‘Negative Reaction’ To Pride Month Collection – Forbes
- Disney’s political fight with Ron DeSantis cost company years of theme park expansion – OutKick/Fox News
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