Founded in 1837, John Deere is the world's largest farm equipment manufacturer with revenue of over $61 billion. The company manufactures tractors, combines, backhoes, excavators, seed drills, and more and sells them on every continent. Simply put, John Deere makes and sells the equipment that farmers and other working men need. Earlier this month I reported on how Tractor Supply Company had retreated from Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), LGBTQ events, and climate change philosophy after a rural customer backlash. Now it has come to light that John Deere has adopted similar progressive policies.

Rural Americans are different than those from the big coastal cities. Tractor Supply Company just discovered that. Tractor Supply is a Tennessee-based retailer known for selling animal feed, farm tools, workwear, and even live chicks and ducks. It is one of the last companies in the nation that you would expect to go woke, but it did. On October 20, 2021, CEO Hal Lawton wrote an Op-Ed in The Tennessean newspaper titled, “Why businesses should follow Tractor Supply’s push for diversity, inclusion, and climate change prevention.” Lawton led Tractor Supply with the philosophy that Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) was a necessary good and that climate change was an existential threat.

I wore the U.S. Navy uniform for twenty years. Over the years, I’ve seen many ignorant and thoughtless people disrespect the uniform and those who serve. However, I never expected Black Rifle Coffee Company, a veteran-owned business, to show the juvenile and thoughtless impertinence I witnessed in their latest video.

The online Cambridge dictionary defines virtue-signaling as, “indicating that one has virtue merely by expressing disgust or favour for certain political ideas or cultural happenings.” In other words, someone says what they think is right so others view them as virtuous. Politicians have done this since the dawn of time.