Look, I’ll be honest: I never got the appeal of Cracker Barrel. Nothing against it, but I grew up in the South, so a Southern-themed chain restaurant wasn’t all that exciting. But if you’re a Cracker Barrel superfan, that’s cool. (I’m sure it’s a very nice place to visit when you’re too tired to microwave your own meals.)
This past week, Cracker Barrel has been dominating the news, but not in a good way. Melina Khan of USA Today had the most hilariously understated headline of 2025: “Cracker Barrel unveils new logo and it’s not pleasing everyone.” [emphasis added]
Not pleasing… “everyone”???
Gee, that’s kind of vague! Whatever might Melina mean?
CBS News followed with a smidgen more info: “Cracker Barrel loses almost $100 million in value as stock plunges after new logo release.”
Ah, so that’s what she means.
Releasing a new logo is a self-contained storyline. Companies control 100% of the creative, and they don’t have to release the new logo until they jolly well feel like it. From the timing of the needle-drop to planning your media blitz, there’s just no excuse for not having your ducks in a row.
It’s a PR “gimme.”
Cracker Barrel has updated their logo for the first time in 47 years pic.twitter.com/H4pRyDz7Aa
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) August 20, 2025
Pro Tip: If your company loses $100 million in value after you release your new logo, then guess what? You released the wrong logo.
Conservatives, quite naturally, voiced their displeasure:
WTF is wrong with @CrackerBarrel??! https://t.co/LkYB5N34Qi
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 20, 2025
Cracker Barrel completely changed their iconic logo for the first time in 47 years...
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 20, 2025
and it's absolutely horrible.
When will they learn? pic.twitter.com/ZhfVeR5CyO
"This year Cracker Barrel’s focus was to be a part of the Pride experience… In the Cracker Barrel spirit of hospitality and belonging, we call it ‘bringing the front porch to Pride’."
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) August 21, 2025
Cracker Barrel is so cooked.
RIP @CrackerBarrel pic.twitter.com/LOT6u6PRgF
But here’s where our story took an unexpected turn: In the past, liberals would’ve blasted conservatives for overreacting — calling us “snowflakes” — while marching (with blinders!) onward and upward in the great Culture War. And it’d happen so quickly, it’d seem instantaneous.
Theirs, after all, was a simple, predictable calculus: If conservatives are against it, then we are for it.
Yet that didn’t happen.
Instead, liberals joined in with the mockery:
We think the Cracker Barrel rebrand sucks too pic.twitter.com/XSzZcVQVd0
— Democrats (@TheDemocrats) August 21, 2025
WHAT IS WRONG WITH CRACKER BARREL?? KEEP YOUR BEAUTIFUL LOGO!!! THE NEW ONE LOOKS LIKE CHEAP VELVEETA “CHEESE” FROM WALMART, THE PLACE FOR “GROCERIES” (AN OLD FASHIONED TERM)!!! "FIX IT” ASAP! WOKE IS DEAD!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. — GCN
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) August 21, 2025
WTF (and I don’t mean “Welcome to Florida”)?! What’s going on here?!
Ladies and gentlemen, our friends on the left have switched tactics. This is something new.
Big, humiliating defeats will do that to you.
Psychological scars manifest in unpredictable ways. Some prizefighters can shrug off a setback — Muhammad Ali made a career out of it — but others are broken by a single loss. Once their “aura of invincibility” is shattered, they’re never the same again.
It happens in politics, too. (And not just on the left: Conservative PTSD over the ill-fated Iraq War traumatized a generation of GOPers into adopting extreme isolationism. You can’t explain the ideological trajectory of the “Tucker Carlson wing” of MAGA without it.)
Over just the past few years, the Democrats lost the White House. They lost the Senate. They lost the House. They lost the popular vote. And just as importantly, they lost the whole damn Culture War!
Their bloodlust for Woke cost ‘em dearly. It drove ‘em right off a political cliff.
From Bud Light to biological men competing against women to Sidney Sweeney, liberals are sick and tired of being made to look ridiculous. Getting rejected by the American people just once is politically traumatic; getting rejected over and over again will absolutely, unquestionably trigger a full-blown case of PTSD.
So now, the isolationist movement has come to the Democratic Party.
I don’t want to overstate it because they’re not anywhere close to a majority. As with the GOP, the isolationist wing is more sound than substance, more volume than validity. Tucker Carlson (and his ilk) command vast media attention, but their influence is minimal.
We saw it when Carlson’s hysterical, over-the-top condemnations of Israel fell on deaf ears — Republican support for Israel actually increased.
Still, the isolationist wing has grown large enough to impact public policy. (And, more importantly for these “YouTube influencers,” drive plenty of clicks, likes, and impressions to their channels. “Hit that big red button to subscribe!”)
Related: New York Times Shock Study: ‘The Death Cycle of the Democratic Party’
Which brings us to today.
The Democratic Party is a psychologically broken prizefighter. They see the Culture War the same way Tucker Carlson sees the Iraq War: “Despite our noble intentions, ‘twas a horrific loss of blood, treasure, and prestige. Never again!”
Now, they’re just as likely to join us in the mockery.
Liberals are going AWOL in the Culture War. They’re tearing up their draft cards, refusing to fight. After all… what’s the point in fighting a war that’s proven unwinnable?
The Cracker Barrel story marked the shift. We’ll see if it’s a one-off — and maybe Cracker Barrel’s creative team developed a logo that was so uniquely God-awful, it actually brought Republicans and Democrats together(!) — or if it’s part of a larger trend. If it’s the former, then this is merely a bump in the road for the country-fried restaurant chain.
But if it’s the latter, it opens a helluva lane for President Trump to exploit. Start brainstorming!
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