Trump’s WashingtonHow President Trump is changing government, the country and its politics.Good evening. Tonight, my colleague Jennifer Medina writes about the politics around Bad Bunny’s selection for the Super Bowl halftime show. She also looks at the likely drop in international students at U.S. colleges and universities. We’ll start with the headlines. — Jess Bidgood
How will Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl show shape politics?When Bad Bunny sang at the Grammy Awards ceremony in 2023, his performance was described in closed-caption subtitles simply as “singing in non-English.” But whether most Americans understand his lyrics, he is indisputably an international icon. Last week, the National Football League announced him as the halftime show headliner for the 2026 Super Bowl. He will, undoubtedly, be singing in Spanish. And surely, con política. The Super Bowl may be one of the country’s last bipartisan unifiers, but it would be naïve to imagine that politics would suddenly be set aside. Within hours of the announcement, Greg Kelly, a host on Newsmax, called for a boycott of the N.F.L., fuming that “da bunny,” as he labeled him, “hates America, hates President Trump, hates ICE, hates the English language! He’s just a terrible person.” The Puerto Rican superstar — legally named Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio and affectionately called Benito by his loyal fans — has said that he avoided touring in the continental United States this year in part because he feared that federal immigration agents would target those shows. The Trump administration essentially confirmed those fears as Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary, said on Friday that immigration agents would be “all over” the event. Her special assistant, Corey Lewandowski, was even more explicit, saying: “We will find you, we will apprehend you, we will put you in a detention facility and we will deport you.” Bad Bunny has made political commentary a centerpiece of his performances for years and seemed to relish the blowback as he hosted the season opener of “Saturday Night Live.” After saying in English that “everyone is happy” about his halftime show, he switched to Spanish and continued: “Especially all the Latinos and Latinas across the world, and here, in the United States, all who have worked to open doors.” As the audience applauded, he added: “It’s more than an achievement for myself, it’s an achievement for all of us. It shows our footprints and our contributions to this country, which no one will ever be able to take away or erase.” “If you didn’t understand what I just said,” he concluded, “You have four months to learn.” His monologue was interspersed with an edited video clip splicing Fox News hosts together saying “Bad Bunny is my favorite musician and he should be the next president.” It called to mind the A.I.-generated videos President Trump posted on social media showing Representative Hakeem Jeffries in a sombrero and handlebar mustache, with Senator Chuck Schumer claiming “even Latinos hate us.” The first video, set to mariachi music, continued with the false claim that Democrats are trying to give free health care to undocumented immigrants in order to win elections. All of this comes as both parties are fighting fiercely over Latinos, who made up roughly 10 percent of voters in the presidential election. Last year, the Trump campaign made major inroads with Hispanic voters across the country — not just in the Rio Grande Valley and South Florida, but also in the Bronx and East Los Angeles. Whether those voters stick with Republicans remains one of the most important questions in the next round of elections. Some polling has suggested that Trump is losing their support, as he tries to keep his promise to deport millions of immigrants. But there is reason to be skeptical of the sparse polling so far: It has largely come from Democratic-leaning groups, who are hopeful that they can win such voters back, or has relied on small sample sizes. We know that many Latino voters chose Trump for his promises to improve the economy. Years of data shows that immigration rarely tops the list of the most important issues for Hispanic voters. Still, amid continued reports of immigration raids that have even swept up U.S. citizens, there is no predicting what happens in this moment. Whether Republicans can maintain or even build on their momentum with Latino voters will be put to the test next month with elections in New York City (the mayor’s race), New Jersey (governor) and California (a Democratic-backed ballot initiative to allow for partisan redistricting). By the time Bad Bunny takes the stage, we will be well on our way to the 2026 midterm elections. There is no doubt he will take the opportunity to make some kind of political statement. When Jennifer Lopez and Shakira headlined the 2020 halftime show, young performers appeared on stage in orbs that some interpreted as representing children in cages, a commentary on Trump’s immigration policies. Benito has proved he is one of the world’s most creative and popular stars. Last year’s record-breaking audience for the Super Bowl halftime show (123.4 million) was almost as large as the number of people who voted (154 million) in the presidential election. It is hardly a stretch to imagine that Bad Bunny’s performance will have us all trying to understand his political impact long after the game’s final touchdown. Got a tip? IN ONE GRAPHIC
A new Times/Siena survey shows that a majority of voters now think the country is too divided to solve its problems, a marked difference from five years ago. Even then, when the Covid-19 pandemic had upended the country and mask mandates became a political issue, a slight majority thought that the country was still able to address its political problems. That majority has slipped to only one-third of voters, a steep rise in pessimism that reflects a striking shift in the public’s perceptions about what ails the country. Read more about the poll’s findings.
ONE LAST THING A signal of a steep decline in international studentsOne big question about the effect of the Trump administration’s policies on higher education and immigration is whether international students will be deterred from attending American colleges and universities. There’s some fascinating new data that helps us understand that. Arrival records of international student visitors analyzed by my colleagues shows that the number of such students arriving in the U.S. in August fell by 19 percent this year compared with last year — the largest decline on record outside of the Covid-19 pandemic. The early trends vary among countries and regions: The number of students arriving from Europe stayed mostly the same, while drops were seen in students coming from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America. Read past editions of the newsletter here. If you’re enjoying what you’re reading, please consider recommending it to others. They can sign up here. Have feedback? Ideas for coverage? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at onpolitics@nytimes.com.
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