Posted by Alumni from The Atlantic
February 9, 2026
Last night, during Super Bowl halftime, I watched a mustachioed entertainer put on a show that celebrated working-class values, the pleasures of a good party, and the virtues of marriage, with a side serving of grievance against elites. This wasn't Bad Bunny's performance'it was the alternative performance put on by Turning Point USA, led by Kid Rock. Despite the best efforts of the organizers to stoke controversy, I couldn't help but notice how much overlap there was between its message and the one the Puerto Rican superstar delivered in Santa Clara. As my colleague Spencer Kornhaber writes, Bad Bunny's show was unifying rather than divisive, but it did have a political message: that working hard, playing hard, and loving America aren't values that belong to any political group or linguistic heritage. Although Turning Point's show was intended to offer a radical contrast, the many thematic convergences only strengthened that argument. Above all, the Turning Point show was boring... learn more