When ‘God Bless America’ Is Subversive

The Bad Bunny performance challenged American identity

Bad Bunny was already the most controversial Super Bowl halftime performer before he even rapped on stage. The actual performance largely met the expectations of critics, even if he didn’t perform in an “ICE Out” dress. He only sang in Spanish, marginalized the U.S. in his version of America, and presented a culture completely alien to the historic American nation.

It was a political show even without an explicit message. It told the chuds that this is their country now and they need to embrace it. Bad Bunny is “all-American,” despite few Americans understanding him.

There were a number of conservatives who decided to ostentatiously show their love for the performance. Some just liked the music and the visuals (suspect reasons, but to each their own). Others tried to claim the show actually presented conservative values and patriotism. A representative argument came from Scottish writer Lois McLatchie Miller.

“[T]he Right should be careful not to overreact to Bad Bunny,” she argued on X.

The music is not to my taste. But many Americans hold Latin American heritage, and it’s not wrong to pay homage to it.

The American flag was honoured first in any case.

The performance literally promoted marriage to an audience of 127 million.

It was fine.

Making a mountain out of a molehill makes everything so much worse.

This is a silly argument.

It’s true that the show did feature the wedding of a heterosexual couple. Due to the bottom-barrel standards of some conservatives, the mere sight of a straight marriage made it the most “pro-family” Super Bowl performance of all time. These fans conveniently ignored all the sexualized dancing during the show, including two men humping each other. They were too awe-struck by the wedding to notice.

What’s worse is the conservatives who try to claim the show was pro-America. The only words Bad Bunny uttered in English were “God Bless America!” It drew rare cheers from the Super Bowl crowd. These words, along with the inclusion of an American flag, were seen as undeniable proof that the performance was pro-America. It was far from it.

The America blessed was not the United States. He meant the entire continent, which is an affront to how our nation sees itself. He then listed every country in the Americas. The United States (he notably left out America in its name) was only part of this America. The American flag was flown alongside the many other states in the hemisphere. For those who didn’t get his point, Mr. Bunny carried a football declaring: “Together, We Are America.” (He also made sure to separate Puerto Rico from the U.S., which undermines his defenders’ claims that Puerto Ricans are true Americans. A separate identity belies that.)

This is not American patriotism at all. Latin Americans vigorously dispute our nation calling itself America. They think it’s rude to do so and insist that the whole continent is America. We’re just the United States. This is an idea with certain purchase within left-wing circles. It encourages support for open borders and a pan-American identity that deemphasizes our Anglo heritage. In order to be TRUE Americans, we need to learn Spanish and respect the ways of our southern neighbors. We also need to let our neighbors in, as we’re all “Americans.”

One of the core elements of American identity is NOT being Latin America. Our forefathers recognized that our civilization was different from that of Latinos. Their prejudices would’ve been confirmed by the grotesquery on display in San Francisco. This isn’t the “America” they created. It’s a complete rejection of that heritage.

It’s necessary for Americans to reserve the very name for our countrymen. Allowing the Latin view to take root in our country is deeply subversive and encourages a poisoned view of our nation. It naturally increases support for immigration and multiculturalism. When someone says “God Bless America,” we want them to mean the United States–not all 35 countries in the hemisphere. The separation between us and the Latin South is necessary to keep America American.

It was good for Turning Point USA to offer an alternative to the halftime show that better reflected the heartland. It may have been a little cheesy, but it was good. It was certainly a lot better than what Bad Bunny put on in San Francisco.

It’s unclear if normies would’ve fully understood how subversive Mr. Bunny’s message about America is. As seen in the deluge of terrible X posts, a number of people were taken in by the “traditional” marriage and the American flag to conclude that it was okay. A lot of normies don’t want to seem “racist” by knocking it, so they’ll latch on to whatever aspects they liked to conclude it was actually a good show or even conservative.

Unfortunately, the bare scraps given to conservatives were enough to win over these types. That’s what makes it so subversive. If Bad Bunny burned a flag and said “FUCK GRINGOS!,” the message would’ve been obvious and naturally rejected by normal Americans. But when dressed up with a flag, a wedding, and “God Bless America,” normies are susceptible to its charms–even if they didn’t understand a word of it.

The Super Bowl is a major event. The halftime show isn’t a frivolous matter as it’s watched by tens of millions and embodies our culture. When handed over to a Puerto Rican rapper who emphasized that the real America is a continent, not a nation (in Spanish, no less), that’s a problem. There’s no need to pooh-pooh concerns about it.

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