{"id":2567943,"date":"2026-02-09T13:46:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T18:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-super-bowl-halftime-show-was-literally-about-erasing-america\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T13:49:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T18:49:50","slug":"the-super-bowl-halftime-show-was-literally-about-erasing-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-super-bowl-halftime-show-was-literally-about-erasing-america\/","title":{"rendered":"The Halftime Show Was Literally About Erasing &#8216;America&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-super-bowl-halftime-show-was-literally-about-erasing-america%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2567943&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>An opinion piece by Brianna Lyman at The Federalist analyzes Bad Bunny\u2019s Super Bowl <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/super-bowl-lv-all-the-best-commercials\/\" title=\"Super Bowl LV: All The Best Commercials\">halftime show<\/a>, focusing on the moment he framed the performance with the idea that \u201ctogether we are America.\u201d Lyman argues this was a purposeful political statement intended to redefine \u201cAmerica\u201d as the entire Western Hemisphere rather than the United States,effectively challenging <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/delta-ceo-negative-covid-test-requirement-for-domestic-flights-horrible-idea\/\" title=\"Delta CEO: Negative COVID Test Requirement For Domestic Flights \u2018Horrible Idea\u2019\">national borders<\/a> adn U.S. nationhood. The piece contrasts the widespread praise from celebrities and commentators with a critique that the message signals open borders and a shift away from a distinct American identity.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-guardian-joe-biden-is-one-of-americas-most-unpopular-presidents\/\" title=\"The Guardian: Joe Biden Is One of ...\u2019s \u2018Most Unpopular Presidents\u2019\">article contends<\/a> that nations are defined by shared laws, traditions, language, and civic culture, not merely by geography.By broadening \u201cAmerica\u201d to include North, Central, and South America, Bad Bunny is portrayed as endorsing a continental identity over a sovereign American nation, which the author views as undermining sovereignty and the preservation of American culture and language. The piece presents this as a subversive political stance rather than a worldwide celebration of unity, and it closes with author data and related tag context.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-body body-md bdr-top-black pt-30\">\n<div class=\"row justify-content-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12\">\n<figure class=\"article-thumbnail mb-30 mb-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-thumbnail-caption d-flex align-items-center justify-content-md-end label-xs mt-15\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-camera me-10\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Image Credit<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=G6FuWd4wNd8&amp;list=RDG6FuWd4wNd8&amp;start_radio=1\">  NFL and NFL Mundo \/ Youtube <\/a>       <\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-share text-center article-share-simple\">\n<h5 class=\"label-sm mb-10\">Share<\/h5>\n<ul class=\"article-share-list list-unstyled m-0 p-0\">\n<li class=\"article-share-facebook m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/02\/09\/the-super-bowl-halftime-show-was-literally-about-erasing-america\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-facebook\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Facebook<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-twitter m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=The%20Super%20Bowl%20Halftime%20Show%20Was%20Literally%20About%20Erasing%20%E2%80%98America%E2%80%99&amp;url=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/02\/09\/the-super-bowl-halftime-show-was-literally-about-erasing-america\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-twitter\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Twitter<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-truth-social m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/share?title=The%20Super%20Bowl%20Halftime%20Show%20Was%20Literally%20About%20Erasing%20%E2%80%98America%E2%80%99&amp;url=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/02\/09\/the-super-bowl-halftime-show-was-literally-about-erasing-america\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" fill=\"currentColor\" style=\"width:36px;height:auto;\" viewbox=\"0 0 92 93\"><path d=\"M69.444 55.716H56.772v10.37h12.672zM64.487 37.795V27.32H38.666v38.664h13.18v-28.19zM21.05 27.321h12.653v10.471H21.051z\" https:><\/path><\/svg>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Truth Social<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-link m-0\">       <button data-clipboard-text=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/02\/09\/the-super-bowl-halftime-show-was-literally-about-erasing-america\/\" data-tooltip-content=\"Copied!\" class=\"clip tooltip\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-link-variant\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Copy Article Link<\/span>       <\/button>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-email m-0\">       <a href=\"mailto:?subject=The%20Super%20Bowl%20Halftime%20Show%20Was%20Literally%20About%20Erasing%20%E2%80%98America%E2%80%99&amp;body=Bad%20Bunny%20naming%20the%20entire%20western%20hemisphere%20as%20one%20America%20was%20an%20open%20endorsement%20of%20open%20borders%20and%20the%20implicit%20rejection%20of%20nationhood.%20%20https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/02\/09\/the-super-bowl-halftime-show-was-literally-about-erasing-america\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-email\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article via Email<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-email m-0\"><span class=\"printfriendly pf-button  pf-alignleft\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\" rel=\"nofollow\" onclick=\"window.print(); return false;\" title=\"Printer Friendly, PDF &amp; Email\"><span id=\"printfriendly-text2\" class=\"pf-button-text\"><i class=\"mdi mdi-printer\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p>Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny ended his abysmal halftime performance by <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SpencerAlthouse\/status\/2020673912070087004?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rattling off dozens <\/a>of Latin American countries before holding up a football that read: &ldquo;Together we are America.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The move was praised by celebrities and leftists alike. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2 d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-598239475\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1463670073398-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&ldquo;That made me feel more proudly American than anything Kid Rock has ever done,&rdquo; Kacey Musgraves said on X. <\/p>\n<p>Robert Griffin III <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RGIII\/status\/2020682605708845490?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> that even though most <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/this-thing-might-break-bill-clinton-gives-democrats-a-dose-of-reality-about-trumps-victory-over-kamala\/\" title=\"&#039;This Thing Might Break&#039;: Bill Clinton Gives Democrats a Dose of Reality About Trump&#039;s Victory Over Kamala\">people couldn&#038;rsquo<\/a>;t understand a word of what Bad Bunny said, &ldquo;it was iconic because you could feel the love of people and culture. Puerto Rican culture is American culture. Together we are America.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Complex <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Complex\/status\/2020676593975247353?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> on X: &ldquo;Bad Bunny&rsquo;s Super Bowl halftime show highlights unity with &lsquo;Together, We are America.&#8217;&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Co-host of Scoop City, James Palmer, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JamesPalmerTV\/status\/2020672557557445032?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> &ldquo;&lsquo;TOGETHER WE ARE AMERICA&rsquo; Bad Bunny for the win. Outstanding.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Even former Republican Gov. John Kasich <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JohnKasich\/status\/2020672351415726538?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> &ldquo;Love the halftime show which celebrates the wonderful Latino culture. Great pick and great show. Bad Bunny hit a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >grand slam home run<\/a>!&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>But Bad Bunny&rsquo;s subversive message was obvious to anyone capable of critical thinking.<\/p>\n<p>Bad Bunny wasn&rsquo;t trying to make a feel-good statement about unity. He was making an inherently political claim that the left has been pushing for years, which is that the United States of America &mdash; colloquially known as America &mdash; isn&rsquo;t for Americans and that national borders are arbitrary at best but illegitimate at worst.<\/p>\n<p>By naming nearly the entire Western Hemisphere and declaring &ldquo;We are America,&rdquo; Bad Bunny was endorsing the idea that North, Central, and South America constitute a single political entity. The United States of America is not a country with a distinct identity, people, or history. Instead it&rsquo;s just a piece of land inside a continent. If that&rsquo;s true, then our borders mean nothing because we are <em>all<\/em> &ldquo;American.&rdquo; And if we are all &ldquo;American,&rdquo; then our distinct and unique American culture and our English language and our way of life is not something to be preserved, instead it&rsquo;s something to be molded and reshaped by an ever-changing medley of foreigners and <em>their <\/em>culture and language and customs.<\/p>\n<p>This redefinition of &ldquo;America&rdquo; is why Bad Bunny&rsquo;s earlier declaration of &ldquo;God Bless America&rdquo; was not patriotic but deliberately vague. Some commentators seized on this line as proof that the performance was pro-America. But &ldquo;God Bless America&rdquo; is not a generic blessing for the entire hemisphere. It is inseparable from the song of the same name, which was written explicitly about the United States of America. By redefining &ldquo;America&rdquo; to mean every country in the Western Hemisphere, Bad Bunny wasn&rsquo;t saying God bless the United States (which is what the phrase God Bless America relates to), but rather he was saying God bless <em>all<\/em> of it &mdash; North, Central and South America alike. It was another subversive effort to take a distinctly American cultural phrase and empty it of its meaning so that it doesn&rsquo;t belong to <em>Americans<\/em> at all.<\/p>\n<p>But sharing a hemisphere does not make any of us countrymen. By that logic, India, Saudi Arabia, and China should all be interchangeable because they&rsquo;re on the same continent. But they&rsquo;re not. You&rsquo;d never hear someone declare that Tehran and Seoul are all &ldquo;Asia&rdquo; because that would be recognized as absurd. <\/p>\n<p>Nations aren&rsquo;t merely geographical confines on a map. They are defined by shared laws, traditions, language, and civic culture. America is not &ldquo;America&rdquo; just because it exists somewhere on this particular continent. It is America &mdash; and we are Americans &mdash; because it stands for <em>our<\/em> specific set of principles, our people, our language, and our culture.<\/p>\n<p>Bad Bunny naming the entire Western Hemisphere as one America was an open endorsement of open borders and the implicit rejection of nationhood.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone knows &ldquo;America&rdquo; refers to the United States of America. And everyone knows being &ldquo;American&rdquo; belongs to the United States of America. But if everyone is American &mdash; as Bad Bunny implied &mdash; then no one is. If the label applies equally to citizens and non-citizens, then the concept of an American nation collapses. And once that happens, then the case for borders and sovereignty collapses.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">      Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-author mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-30 bdr-top-bold-black\">\n<div class=\"row g-0 align-items-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-6\">\n<div class=\"article-author-profile d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center justify-content-md-start\">\n<div class=\"article-author-details\">\n<div class=\"label-md\">Brianna Lyman<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-author-twitter label-sm d-flex align-items-center mt-10\">             <i class=\"mdi mdi-twitter me-5\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>             <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Visit on Twitter<\/span>            <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/briannalyman2\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text-decoration-none\">@briannalyman2<\/a>           <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-6 d-flex justify-content-center justify-content-md-end mt-15 mt-md-0\">        <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/author\/briannalyman\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">More Articles<\/a>     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-tags bdr-top-black mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-15 pt-md-45\">\n<ul class=\"list-unstyled d-flex flex-wrap align-items-center mb-0 mx-n10 p-0\">\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/bad-bunny\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Bad Bunny<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/illegal-immigration\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Illegal Immigration<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/immigration\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Immigration<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/mass-migration\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">mass migration<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/nationhood\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">nationhood<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/superbowl\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Superbowl<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bad Bunny&#8217;s &#8216;America&#8217; moment sparks debate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":2567944,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-09-at-11.54.35-AM-scaled-e1770656218230-1024x577.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[5374,71196,72910,54168],"class_list":["post-2567943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-america","tag-culture-war-2","tag-halftime-show-2","tag-nationalism-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-09-at-11.54.35-AM-scaled-e1770656218230-1024x577.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2567943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2567943"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2567943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2567947,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2567943\/revisions\/2567947"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2567944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2567943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2567943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2567943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}