MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE: How Tractor Supply Decided to End DEI, and Fast.

The beginning of the end of Tractor Supply’s diversity efforts started on June 6.

That afternoon, Robby Starbuck, a former Hollywood director turned conservative activist, posted a message on the social-media platform X saying, “It’s time to expose Tractor Supply.”

He laid out a string of complaints about stances taken by the company and its leaders, from a warehouse displaying pride flags to the CEO promoting the Covid-19 vaccine.

The company has conservative shoppers who don’t agree, he said. “Let’s start buying what we can at other places,” said Starbuck, who has about half a million followers on X.

The post spread quickly, and within hours executives at the Tennessee retailer began discussing how to quash criticism before the controversy was seized on by conservative media.

Three weeks later, Tractor Supply delivered its decision: Diversity, equity and inclusion at the rural chain were over, including related job roles, and so were some of its environmental initiatives and other causes frequently championed by social progressives.

Starbuck, in an interview, said “we definitely proved a model” of blitzing a company with a primarily conservative customer base. He intends to target other companies soon, he said.

Pushback works.