Dem
47
GOP
53
When it comes to this year's Super Bowl, we are not sure exactly what the official MAGA Marching Orders are. It is definitely the case that any MAGA member in good standing is not to watch, under any circumstances, the halftime show. This is because the headliner is Bad Bunny, who: (1) is brown, and (2) primarily performs in Spanish. In this case, it's two strikes and you're out. Or maybe, since it's football, two downs and drive over.
For the viewing pleasure of the MAGA faithful, Turning Point USA will stage its own halftime show. It took them a while to find a "network" to broadcast on; eventually the organization ended up with "pretty much every right-wing social media platform/streaming service." And it also took TPUSA a while to announce the lineup of performers. Initially, the organization said that it was going to keep things under wraps until the show itself. This was pretty obviously a lie meant to cover for the fact that TPUSA did not have an actual lineup, because once it did, that lineup was splashed all over social media.
Here is the official announcement of the MAGA halftime show:
We have three comments. First, if you had Kid Rock in your pool, you win... nothing. He is the headliner for all these MAGA shows, and especially all these TPUSA MAGA shows. It is almost embarrassing that they picked him, because it says "We couldn't get anyone else." Second, it's a little surprising that Ted Nugent is not also on the bill; the real Super Bowl halftime show often has a "surprise" appearance, and maybe that will also happen here. Third, when (Z) saw the ad. he said: "Huh, they found a Black guy who is not Hootie, and who MAGA likes." But the guy at top (Brantley Gilbert) is, in fact, white. Whiter than Kid Rock, if that is possible. Is it possible they darkened him in the ad to make the show look more diverse than it actually is? In any event, if you like your halftime shows so white you need sunglasses, you can catch the show on TPUSA's Twitter/Rumble feeds, or on The Daily Wire, Real America's Voice, Trinity Broadcasting Network, Charge!, The National News Desk, New Tang Dynasty (NTD), and One America News. In case you are wondering what NTD is, that is the official TV channel of the far-right anti-communist Chinese movement Falun Gong.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), among other prominent MAGA Republicans, said that the TPUSA halftime is the ONLY thing he will watch on Sunday. Why can't he watch the game itself, since—as we understand it—Bad Bunny will NOT be putting on pads and playing? Tuberville explained: "Unfortunately, we've got, I call it the Woke Bowl, because we're getting more and more woke." The "Woke Bowl"? Boy, he is a clever one.
Donald Trump has not said whether or not HE will boycott watching the game. That tells us he knows full well that most of MAGA is loyal enough to change channels at halftime, but not loyal enough to turn off the TV entirely. That said, there is a good chance ratings will be down this year, in part because Seattle is not a marquee team like the Dallas Cowboys or the San Francisco 49ers, in part because Nielsen is tinkering with the way it calculates viewership, and in part because no Kansas City Chiefs, so no Swifties. If the ratings ARE down, don't be too surprised to see Trump claim credit.
As we have noted previously, Trump definitely will not attend the game. He's unspooled a litany of lame excuses, the last of which was that it's too far from Washington, DC to San Francisco. The real reason, as we noted in the earlier item, is that he knows he would be booed mightily, and he just can't handle that blow to his image. There were a couple of stories in the last few days that made clear that is what would happen. First, on Wednesday, there was an All Elite Wrestling event in Las Vegas, and the main card featured Brody King, who is outspokenly anti-ICE. It took a while for the match to actually start, because the crowd was chanting "Fu** ICE! Fu** ICE! Fu** ICE!" over and over. Meanwhile, J.D. Vance has been dispatched to serve as the administration's representative at the Winter Olympics, which officially began yesterday. When the American delegation entered the arena, during the opening ceremony's March of Nations, the camera cot to the VP and Second Lady, and then had to cut away very quickly, because of the booing that immediately commenced.
Trump will not be completely invisible on Sunday, as he sat for an interview that will air before the game. "Highlights" have already been leaked, and the interview is pretty whackadoodle. In it, he says that while he is a little sad about the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, they "weren't angels." He also says that the people who "feel worse about it than anybody" are... "the people of ICE." Uh, huh. He concludes that "the real tragedy" is "you get bad publicity." Undoubtedly, something we can all agree upon. (Z)