Editorial: Bad Bunny vs. Trump in a battle of love and hate

The Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Board, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Feb 10, 2026

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It says a lot about the state of affairs when a Puerto Rican singer and rapper does more to unify the country in about 13 minutes than the president of the United States has done in the past 13 months.

Bad Bunny’s halftime performance at Super Bowl XL was all about love, while Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office is focused on hate.

Bad Bunny’s joyful celebration of unity, diversity, and togetherness was a needed respite from Trump’s cruelty, retribution, and division.

Even though many of the more than 135 million viewers may not have understood the words Bad Bunny sang in Spanish, just about everyone could feel the positive vibe and communal celebration that showcased dancing, hard work, urban street life, family — and a wedding.

Bad Bunny’s ode to Puerto Rico was a reminder that we are neighbors, not enemies. More broadly, the United States is part of the American continent that includes Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, and Greenland.

We are all stronger when we work together than when we are at each other’s throats.

Bad Bunny’s positive message stood in stark contrast to the president’s relentless serving of hate that is dividing and weakening the country.

Just last week, Trump posted a racist video on his social media account that depicted former president and first lady Barack and Michelle Obama as apes.

In case anyone needed a reminder that Trump has been a stone-cold racist throughout his life, he refused to apologize for the vile meme.

Eventually, he removed the post after several — but not many — GOP officials called out the blatant racism. The bipartisan backlash is a reminder that it will only take a few good Republican men and women to stop Trump’s attack on America’s institutions and its people.

Trump’s racist meme about the Obamas came on the heels of a racist and misleading move by the White House that posted a digitally altered image of a Black woman who was arrested while demonstrating against the unlawful actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis.

The image released darkened Nekima Levy Armstrong’s skin and showed her sobbing, though the real picture depicted her as composed. Such detestable propaganda is how the Trump administration spends your tax dollars.

Trump is not a serious president.

As much of the country remained in a deep freeze, he spent his 20th weekend at his estate in Palm Beach, Fla., since returning to office last year.

He played golf with lackey Sen. Lindsey Graham, R.-S.C., and fired off more than 50 social media posts whining about rigged elections (still), the halftime show, and a U.S. Olympic skier he called a “loser” after the athlete expressed “mixed emotions” about representing the country amid Trump’s politics of upheaval.

The only thing Trump is serious about is enriching himself while many Americans struggle to make ends meet.

An updated accounting by the New Yorker magazine found Trump and his family leveraged his return to the White House to increase their wealth by $4 billion.

Lost in all the recent outrages from the Jeffrey Epstein files to Greenland to shooting citizens in Minneapolis was a Wall Street Journal story that detailed how a member of the United Arab Emirates royal family known as the “spy sheikh” invested $500 million to buy 49% of a crypto start-up founded by the Trump family.

The crypto deal came together as the Trump administration agreed to give the Emirati government hundreds of thousands of advanced computer chips to power artificial intelligence technology — a deal the Biden administration rejected out of national security concerns that the chips could be shared to help China advance its military weapons systems.

About 70% of Americans believe the country is “out of control” under Trump.

Many are fed up with his mismanagement of the economy that has resulted in higher prices and fewer jobs — in addition to defying courts, prosecuting political opponents, arresting citizens, deporting immigrants, and stifling free speech.

The landslide special election victory of a Democrat in a deep-red district in Texas shows voters are putting community before party.

Then along came Bad Bunny to remind America that love trumps hate.