At its most crude, contemporary politics operates through the affirmation or denial of “the other.” Donald Trump, the originator of the segregation narrative, used sarcasm as an extension of a xenophobic agenda. Criticizing Bad Bunny during her Super Bowl LX show—calling her “terrible” and “saying what she says”—isn’t simple artistic commentary, it’s political diagnosis.
With it, Trump draws a symbolic border for the Latin American minority. Due to its undeniable demographic and economic weight, the industry is presented as a “ruid” that must be silenced or assimilated. I personally identify with the representation of Los Angeles because most of the population was an integral part of the informality segment.
Nicknamed “Conejo Malo”, he transcends commercial success to establish himself as a disruptive political actor. The presentation was a choreographed introduction to the Latino working class and a declaration of loyalty to an identity that resists homogeneity.
In the context of Puerto Rico maintaining its colonial status and resisting the siege of foreign capital on its territory, the artist transforms the scenario into a platform of condemnation that irritates the hegemon.
This culture shock is reflected in the sober narrative of Mexico. The commemoration of the 113th anniversary of the March of Loyalty is the meaning of the historical loyalty of Francisco I. Madero cadets translated into the present.
The symbolism of the Zócalo, with the presence of President Claudia Sheinbaum and Jefa of the Mexico City Government, Clara Brugada, projects a blockade that establishes loyalty as internal cohesion in the face of external pressures. While Trumpism operates on the logic of punishment and display of force, the national narrative is formulated from the dignity sustained in history.
Loyalty transcends military protocol or artistic regionalism. Just as the Cadets of 1913 looked to constitutional legitimacy in the face of tradition, the real defense of culture and territory seeks to consolidate a form of sovereignism in the face of a resurgence of global authoritarianism.
In the last resort, Trump’s attack on Latino cultural expression and his appeals to poverty are words of equal currency. Bad Bunny, in his apparent “incomprehensibility,” and Claudia Sheinbaum, in her historical firmness, agree on a basic point: identity is not negotiable.
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