(February 4, 2026) – Despite the major NFL history that looms in next Sunday’s Super Bowl LX matchup between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, with the Patriots vying for their record-setting seventh title, the hype leading up to the big game has been less about the football action and more about what will occur during the game’s intermission.
In fact, anyone not paying attention could be forgiven for wondering whether football is even on the schedule that day.
That’s because an even bigger battle seems to be developing not on the gridiron, but on the stage that will be erected within minutes of the game’s first half ending: the battle between Donald Trump’s MAGA movement and Roger Goodell’s NFL — or, more specifically, this year’s Halftime Show featuring Puerto Rican megastar Bad Bunny.
Since September, when the NFL announced that the globally beloved reggaeton rapper would be the headliner at America’s biggest sporting event, MAGA has been in an uproar. Bunny (born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio in Puerto Rico, making him an American) has repeatedly expressed anti-Trump sentiment. He doubled down on it this Sunday (Feb. 1) at the Grammys during his first acceptance speech where he slammed — very politely, I might add — Trump’s immigration enforcement tactics, further sending MAGA into a meltdown.
The next day, one of that movement’s biggest ambassadors — rapper/rocker/country guy Kid Rock — was announced as the headliner for Turning Point USA’s long threatened alternative halftime show, billed faux-patriotically as the “All American Halftime Show.” Rock will be joined by three country musicians: Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, and Gabby Barrett. Barrett is a former American Idol finalist (2018). The four of them combined have 16.9 million monthly listeners on Spotify, compared to Benito’s 83.9 million (data as of Feb. 4).
In fairness, Rock, Gilbert, Brice, and Barrett have sold millions of records combined, though none of them have hit the top half of the Hot 100 in the past five years. Rock, who once branded himself a “redneck pimp,” was nearly certified plastic with his last album, Bad Reputation, which debuted—and peaked—at No. 124 on the Billboard 200 in 2022. With titles like “Ala-Fuckin-Bama,” “My Kind of Country” and chants of “Let’s Go Brandon” on the song, “We the People,” the unapologetic MAGA poster boy of country-rock made it clear he was catering exclusively to white folks in red hats. His line-up of Gilbert, Brice and Barrett will do little to change that impression.
But even this quartet of country music’s best-available — their combined career Grammy and CMA trophy count of two total (zero Grammys, two CMAs) is still fewer than the number of Grammys Benito won Sunday night alone (three) — has a chance at declaring victory in the wake of Sunday night’s dueling events, and for more than one reason.
First and foremost, Trump and his followers will likely claim victory whether it happens or not. Regardless of what the overnight TV ratings say, MAGA’s propensity for pushing alternative realities – combined with Trump’s usual obsession with and over-exaggeration of ratings numbers good or bad – will likely translate into a “win” for TPUSA and MAGA, even if in hyperbole only.
Then there’s the already low expectations for the TPUSA event. Even Kid Rock himself described it as a David-and-Goliath scenario, before cheekily walking that back with an “or is it?” quip. Regardless, this could be a Melania 2.0 situation where the expectations were set so low for the First Lady’s documentary launch last weekend that when they were exceeded (even slightly) they were touted as a big win for conservatives and the Trumps… even “record-breaking.”
All of this is before factoring in the most inconvenient truth facing the NFL in 2026: the ratings mountain this year’s Super Bowl simply isn’t likely to climb.
Last year, the Kendrick Lamar-led halftime performance at SB LIX garnered more than 133.5 million U.S. viewers, surpassing Michael Jackson’s previous record of 133.4 million viewers during his performance at SB XXVII (1993). Those are the only two performances to exceed 125 million viewers in the game’s history.
In last year’s case, Kendrick was coming off an historic, high-profile rap battle with his nemesis Drake. While much of the buzz centered on whether K.Dot would use the platform to nail Drizzy’s coffin, many viewers anticipated a show in which the socially conscious Compton rapper would also make a statement about the situation in America (just weeks after Trump-2.0 began), which he did.
But SB LIX also had the advantage of a high-marquee game between two football giants – the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs – with the Chiefs competing for an unprecedented third-straight Lombardi Trophy, not to mention the buzz that KC tight-end Travis Kelce and girlfriend Taylor Swift brought to the affair. This year’s matchup between the Seahawks and the Patriots, while still having historic implications, doesn’t carry nearly the attraction that its predecessor did, which could translate to fewer viewers as a lead-in to the halftime show.
If even a slight dip in viewership from 2025 to 2026 occurs, MAGA will no doubt tout that as a victory for the distraction that is TPUSA’s All-American show, while using it as inspiration for scheduling future such events.
So, while most of the public has mercilessly mocked TPUSA’s lame attempt at counterprogramming the world’s hottest artist with someone whose relevance has been reduced to Trump sycophant, the self-writing meme that is their “All-American Halftime Show” may do little to bring the country together. But it will almost certainly be touted as another feather in the cap of Trump’s MAGA, despite the amazingly low bar set for its success.
And whether that success is real or imagined.
DJRob
DJRob (he/him) is a freelance music blogger from the East Coast who covers R&B, hip-hop, disco, pop, rock and country genres – plus lots of music news and current stuff! You can follow him on Bluesky at @djrobblog.bsky.social, X (formerly Twitter) at @djrobblog, on Facebook or on Meta’s Threads.
You can also register for free by selecting the menu bars above to receive notifications of future articles.