Isn’t there some compromise that can be reached here in lieu of Nike canceling the sneakers?

What if they go ahead and manufacture the Betsy Ross edition for righties but also make a woke version for liberals with the 13 stars replaced by a swastika or whatever?

Eh, that’s too obvious. I’m sure Nike’s creative team can come up with a more inventive way to signal contempt for the country. They’re being advised by Colin Kaepernick, after all.

Not a big fan of this move by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, I have to say:

And then this news broke yesterday afternoon. 2/https://t.co/NmM8OPGR0G

— Doug Ducey (@dougducey) July 2, 2019

Nike is an iconic American brand and American company. This country, our system of government and free enterprise have allowed them to prosper and flourish. 4/

— Doug Ducey (@dougducey) July 2, 2019

It is a shameful retreat for the company. American businesses should be proud of our country’s history, not abandoning it. 6/

— Doug Ducey (@dougducey) July 2, 2019

Arizona’s economy is doing just fine without Nike. We don’t need to suck up to companies that consciously denigrate our nation’s history. 8/

— Doug Ducey (@dougducey) July 2, 2019

And finally, it shouldn’t take a controversy over a shoe for our kids to know who Betsy Ross is. A founding mother. Her story should be taught in all American schools. In the meantime, it’s worth googling her. 9/9

— Doug Ducey (@dougducey) July 2, 2019

I don’t like government holding a business’s politics against it, I’m not thrilled with a Republican governor dangling subsidies for any reason, and I can only sympathize with the Arizonans who are going to lose out on jobs because Ducey decided to get a jump on the 2024 Republican primary. People can and should boycott Nike to punish them for caving to Kaepernick’s moronic grievance about the colonial flag but there’s no need for governors to get involved. I’ll say this for him, though: Like Josh Hawley with his bad Big Tech regulation bill, Ducey understands that lib-punching is waaaaaay more important to righties in the Trump era than government restraint. If you’re not fighting the culture war with every weapon to hand, even when the flashpoint of the moment involves … sneakers (ugly sneakers, too), you’re just getting in the way.

Hawley, whose 2024 campaign is already in full swing, won’t be outdone on this by Ducey or anyone else:

Nike is a symbol of everything wrong with the corporate economy. They take advantage of our laws but send jobs overseas for sweatshop wages, partner w repressive regimes, aggressively avoid paying any US taxes, and then tell Americans to shut up and buy their stuff

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 2, 2019

Nike should apologize to Americans for denigrating the flag. They should apologize to Missourians who lost loved ones defending the flag. And they should restart production of the Betsy Ross shoe at their facility in St Charles, MO

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 2, 2019

That’s a fine nationalist take — but note that not even Hawley’s willing to go as far as Ducey in encouraging Nike to take its business out of his state.

Now then. Is Arizona’s loss New Mexico’s gain? New Mexico pols are hoping:

Hey @Nike, let's talk. https://t.co/ULqupXdVSj

— Michelle Lujan Grisham (@GovMLG) July 2, 2019

We will gladly take a new @Nike manufacturing plant in New Mexico!https://t.co/ZpUZWvZFGI

— Martin Heinrich (@MartinHeinrich) July 2, 2019

Grisham’s serious about it, her spokesman emphasized. If you wipe your ass with the American flag, of course this very blue state will be happy to do business with you:

Tripp Stelnicki, director of communications for the governor, confirms that the administration has reached out to explore a potential fit.

“We want those jobs,” said Stelnicki. “It’s wild that anyone would jeopardize viable employment for potentially hundreds of state residents because of some political virtue-signaling.”

It is kind of wild, to be honest. It’s what AOC did by chasing Amazon out of NYC, no? Local officials in Goodyear, where Nike’s Arizona facilities were to be built, have been “hunkered down” all day trying to figure out a way forward here. Imagine preparing for hundreds of new jobs to come to your community, with all the economic benefits that would entail, and waking up to find the governor on a Twitter tear before dawn telling Nike to kiss his ass because he’s trying to build a national brand with Republican voters.

Eh, Arizona should have expected this from Nike. Seems like all leftists from Portland are trash. Here’s your exit quotation from yet another guy who’s thinking ahead to 2024:

Yep, I own lots of @Nike I’ve been a life-long customer, since I was kid. But they’ve now decided their shoes represent snide disdain for the American flag. Since they don’t want my business anymore, I won’t buy any more. Can anyone recommend a good sneaker co that’s not so woke? https://t.co/XQfO9Dh737

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 2, 2019