A Minnesota retailer is being targeted for supporting DOGE—president Trump’s initiative to cut government spending, with Elon Musk serving as an advisor.
Corey Roberts, the owner of The Minnesotan store, joined Liz Collin on her podcast to talk about why his business won’t back down and why he’s taking a stand against political insanity.
The Minnesotan has been a fixture of downtown White Bear Lake for several years, offering “Minnesota-centric clothing with nostalgic appeal.”
Roberts said, “We have a history of leaning to the right with our graphic designs and really making a stance as a brand … it was just more on the patriotic side but as things got a little bit more wonky, here, especially in Minnesota, we decided to have a little bit of a personality behind who we are and what we stand for.”
After President Donald Trump won re-election, many people embraced the DOGE initiative and its mission: cutting fraud, waste, and abuse in government.
Giving people what they want is essential for success in retailing. In response to DOGE, Roberts explained, “we knew there was going to be a market for it … the punchline on the design is ‘stakeholder’ because we all are, and we do have that in our front window right now.”
However, someone apparently trying to send some sort of message in “silent protest” left behind some of their own shirts from The Minnesotan with words scribbled all over it—including the now typical Nazi references.
Roberts said they have also had people come into the store and take “verbal jabs at our staff in regard to who we are as a brand and specifically the DOGE items that we have.”
With the employees of the store in mind, Roberts explained how it’s important for them to learn from the past and the present. “We have some young employees here and I just simply tell them, you know, this is the world that we live in. This is all a good learning experience for you. So just take note, right? Learn from this,” he added.
Roberts also spoke about one of the first t-shirt designs they ever created. Back in 2018, they offered a t-shirt with “Lake Calhoun” on it. The design became controversial: the lake is also known as Bde Maka Ska after it was renamed.
He also recalled how the controversy caught him off guard, especially given some of the responses on social media. But for Roberts and The Minnesotan store, it was really about nostalgia and not much else.
“For us as a brand, it was just simple. We don’t erase history. We embrace it,” Roberts said, adding that selling nostalgia is all about “selling items that mean something. To thousands of Minnesotans, it’ll always be Lake Calhoun,” he explained.
While many retailers try to avoid even the slightest bit of controversy or overreact to the slightest criticism, Roberts was steadfast: “We’re not backing down. Someone suggested that we take the hoodie out of the window. I’m like, well, what? No, we’re not going to do that. We’ll probably put more up, actually, instead.”
“We’ve got a fan base here that loves what we’re doing. It’s an opportunity for them to wear something that really speaks to them on an emotional level and who they are as a person, their core values and we love being able to be that beacon of hope out there, especially here in Minnesota,” he added.
Liz Collin
Liz Collin is a multi-Emmy-Award-winning investigative reporter, news anchor, and producer who cares about Minnesota. She is the producer of The Fall of Minneapolis and Minnesota v We the People documentary films, and author of the Amazon best-selling book, They’re Lying: The Media, the Left, and The Death of George Floyd. Her work has prompted important state laws. Yet perhaps most of all, Liz has been giving a voice to the truth—and helping others tell their stories—for more than 20 years.
