Robby Starbuck’s anti-DEI activism uses a very familiar playbook
Here’s why big brands like Harley-Davidson, Caterpiller, and Lowe’s are caving to the anti-DEI crusader.
The capitulations arrived one after another, a line of white flags growing longer by the week. First Tractor Supply Co., then John Deere, then Harley-Davidson and Brown-Forman (the distillery giant behind Jack Daniel’s) and Ford, followed by Lowe’s and Molson Coors and, more recently, Caterpillar. Each publicly traded company—all of them household names—announced a retreat or reversal or outright abandonment of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies after facing online criticism from conservative activist Robby Starbuck.