Trump Rages at Bad Bunny--and Accidentally Exposes a Big MAGA Weakness (Greg Sargent in The New Republic)

[highplainsdem]

His Bluesky posts about the article, and then an excerpt from it:

Trump is badly losing the war over ICE, not just on the streets, but also in the culture. As Bad Bunny shows, this has become a culture war unto itself. Trump-MAGA's initial hubris has been utterly deflated.

I've got fresh data illustrating the point. 1/

(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/2062...

— Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) 2026-02-08T13:00:38.376Z

Striking from Marquette poll:

Majorities of non-college grads and even 50% of rural Americans disapprove of ICE handling of enforcement. Majorities of both oppose deporting longtime residents with jobs/no criminal records.

That's data given to me. 2/

newrepublic.com/article/2062...

— Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) 2026-02-08T13:15:56.888Z

Trump/MAGA have long regarded pro football as "their" part of the culture. They used to post video of stadium crowds cheering Trump. He tried to shame black players kneeling for BLM out of the sport.

This is why Bad Bunny doing Super Bowl cuts so deep for Trump. 3/

newrepublic.com/article/2062...

— Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) 2026-02-08T13:26:07.454Z

Don't forget: Last fall, Kristi Noem boasted that ICE would be "all over" the Super Bowl, and said only people who "love this country" should attend.

Now ICE enforcement operations there won't happen. It's very plausible ICE would face a hostile reception. 4/

newrepublic.com/article/2062...

— Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) 2026-02-08T13:32:36.476Z

Trumpworld assumed MAGA-adjacent parts of the culture would thrill to ICE brutality. ICE recruits among fans of UFC, Nascar, military tactical equipment.

But even MAGA-friendly constituencies and parts of the culture are now rejecting ICE and mass deportations. 5/

newrepublic.com/article/2062...

— Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) 2026-02-08T13:46:36.342Z

Trumpworld is attacking Bad Bunny as an "elitist" who disdains "law enforcement." But it turns out that ICE's paramilitary war on Americans has broken all the old culture war signifiers. The old tropes are failing. Trump is losing the culture on this. 6/

newrepublic.com/article/2062...

— Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) 2026-02-08T14:05:45.645Z

The full argument is in the link below.

END

newrepublic.com/article/2062...

— Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) 2026-02-08T14:16:51.163Z

https://newrepublic.com/article/206292/trump-bad-bunny-super-bowl-maga-weakness

I was going to post an excerpt from the article, but Greg Sargent included some screenshots with some of what I'd planned to post. So I'll just recommend that you read the entire article, which is not paywalled.