In a display of cultural criticism that can only be described as “the kettle calling the pot reggaeton,” former President Donald Trump took to Truth Social this week to deliver his expert review of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show. The only problem? Like most things that come out of Mar-a-Lago, his rant was riddled with so many factual errors, implied racist dog whistles, and expressed bigotry that it read less like a review and more like a transcript of Grandpa shouting at the clouds because the neighbors are playing that “loud Spanish music” again .
Let’s break down the greatest hits from Trump’s “I’m Very Normal And Definitely Not Obsessed With This” post.
Factual Error #1: The “Nobody Understands Him” Gambit
“Nobody understands a word this guy is saying,” Trump lamented, apparently unaware that the United States does not, in fact, have an official language, and that over 41 million of us Spanish-speakers living in the U.S. understood him just fine .
The sheer audacity of a man who once famously tweeted “covfefe” and left the entire world scratching their heads questioning whether anyone can understand lyrics is genuinely impressive. Bad Bunny made history as the first artist to perform a Super Bowl halftime show entirely in Spanish . The performance wasn’t for Trump; it was for the millions of fans who actually buy his music and don’t need Google Translate to know that “DTMF” isn’t a compliment directed at the 45th president.
Factual Error #2: The “Affront to American Greatness” Argument
Trump declared the performance “an affront to the Greatness of America” that “doesn’t represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence” .
This is rich, coming from a man whose greatest contribution to musical culture was selling “God Bless the USA” Bibles during a campaign stop. Bad Bunny, real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, is literally a Puerto Rican citizen—meaning he is a U.S. citizen . He won Album of the Year at the Grammys just last week (an award Trump probably thinks is fixed, like everything else that doesn’t go his way). The performance celebrated Latin culture, featured migrants working in fields, and ended with a sign reading “The only thing more powerful than hate is love”—a sentiment that clearly doesn’t fit the “Make America Great Again” playbook .
The Hypocrisy Hall of Fame
But the real kicker? While Trump was busy typing furiously about how “disgusting” the dancing was and how he was “anti-them,” videos emerged from his own watch party at Trump International Golf Club showing the performance blasting on every screen in the house .
That’s right. While telling reporters he wouldn’t attend because it was “too far” (Levi’s Stadium is in California, Don, not Mars) and insisting he’d rather watch Kid Rock’s “All-American Halftime Show,” footage captured Trump sitting at a table with Senator Lindsey Graham, presumably bopping along to the same “disgusting” music he was publicly eviscerating .
Turning Point USA’s alternative show—featuring Kid Rock lip-syncing to a crowd of roughly 5 million people (or as Trump calls it, “a massive rally”)—got smoked in the ratings by Bad Bunny’s 135 million viewers . So while Trump was pretending to champion “real American” entertainment, he was actually watching the very thing he claimed to hate. It’s almost as if he knows his base is shrinking and he’s scared—but that’s a topic for the therapists.
The Racism, Both Expressed and Implied
Let’s not dance around the piñata here: Trump’s complaint that the show “makes no sense” because it wasn’t in English is the linguistic equivalent of “go back to where you came from.” He wasn’t reviewing a show; he was reviewing a demographic he doesn’t like .
And just in case you missed the dog whistle, his allies were kind enough to hand you the megaphone. Far-right activist and close Trump ally Laura Loomer took to X to complain that the halftime show wasn’t “White enough” for her, seething about “Illegal aliens and Latin hookers twerking” and lamenting that “immigrants have literally ruined everything” .
When your defenders are openly pining for a segregated halftime show, it becomes very clear what “Make America Great Again” actually means. It means a return to a time when the only brown people on your TV were the ones serving drinks during the commercials.
The Bottom Line
Bad Bunny’s performance was a celebration of Latin culture, featuring Puerto Rican pride, Spanish lyrics, and a message of unity. Trump’s response was a petulant tantrum from a man who insists he wasn’t watching, got caught watching, and is now furious that the America he claims to love looks less like his Mar-a-Lago membership roster and more like the actual country .
As for the factual errors: Yes, people understood him. Yes, it was excellent. And yes, the only “disgusting” thing on display was a former president lying about not watching a show while staring at it from his golf course.
Correction: An earlier version of this article implied that Donald Trump has ever been correct about anything. We regret the error, but we couldn’t find an example to fact-check.