Super Bowl Night descended on the United States on a weekend when half the country was still in the grip of a ferocious ice blast that is beginning to feel like divine retribution. Arguably the most significant result of the night occurred thousands of miles away, in a special election for a seat in the Louisiana state House, where Democrat Chastity Martinez defeated her Republican opponent, Brad Daigle, by 23 points: the result was deemed significant in a district that president Donald Trump carried by 13 points in the general election of 2024.
Trump decided to skip attending the gridiron finale, between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, on an evening when the anticipation of the half-time performance of Latino rapper and trenchant Trump critic Bad Bunny almost overshadowed the on-field action. As it turned out the Puerto Rican delivered a celebratory performance mainly in Spanish and while it avoided overt political comment, it was enough to activate another incendiary presidential social media post.
“Nobody understands a word this guy is saying, and the dancing is disgusting, especially for young children that are watching throughout the USA, and all over the world. The ‘Show’ is just a ‘slap in the face’ to our country which is setting new records and standards every single day – including the best stock market and 401ks in history.’"
This came after a week in which Trump dropped heavy hints that the forthcoming midterm elections should be federalised – overruling the constitutional law that each state should run its own election. The rancid aftertaste of the social media post on Trump’s frenetic Truth Social account featuring a notorious meme based on the Jungle Book depicting former president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama as apes could not easily be washed away with the usual Super Bowl night couch-potato splurge. Trump, passing responsibility for the post off to a junior staffer, blithely refused to apologise or even acknowledge the stupendous breach of presidential etiquette and the racial implications within the message.
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For weeks, the administration has blended a scattershot litigious streak towards media coverage deemed critical to the administration with jaunty calls for everyone to lighten up and have a sense of humour – a refrain favoured by vice-president JD Vance since he was nominated for that role in the summer of 2024. But the Obama post has led to sharp and sustained criticism from within the Republican Party, led by South Carolina senator, and African-American, Tim Scott, who called it the “most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House”. Others followed. New York congressman Mike Lawler called for an apology, describing the post as “wrong and incredibly offensive”.
“I think sometimes in our public discourse it is best to just say I’m sorry,” Lawler said on Sunday.
“I take the White House at their word when they say this was a mistake but at the end of the day, given the history of our nation and the stereotypes that have been promulgated to attack African-Americans, I think it is imperative to recognise that and meet the moment. And I think it is best to say ‘I’m sorry’ and do better.”
Meanwhile, a series of Democratic voices are predicting that Trump intends to sabotage the November midterms based on his repeated calls during the week that at least 15 Democratic areas should cede control to federal authorities. Maga influencer and podcaster Steve Bannon was more explicit in his vision for midterm election polling stations at which “you have got to put not just, I think, Ice: you’ve got to call up the 82nd and the 101st Airborne under the Insurrection Act. You got to get around every poll.”
The 101st Airborne, the “Screaming Eagles” light infantry, specialises in rapid air response and assault. On Sunday, Trump’s Truth Social account issued a post that declared America’s elections “rigged, stolen, and a laughing stock all over the world”.
“We either fix them or we won’t have a country any more,” he said, calling on Republicans to demand voter identification, proof of US citizenship to register for voting and an end to mail-in ballots.
“I think he intends to try to subvert the elections,” ventured California Democrat Adam Schiff – one of Trump’s most prominent targets on Sunday.
“He will do everything he can to suppress the vote. And if he loses the vote – and I think the Republicans now suspect they will get a real drubbing in the midterms – he is prepared to try to take some kind of action to overturn the result.
“And we really shouldn’t question that. We saw him try for that to the point of insurrection to try to overturn the 2020 election.
Schiff added: “He’s basically telling us he intends to interfere in an upcoming election. He hasn’t brought prices down. There is chaos and killing on American streets by Ice agents and the public has turned against him. In every election we have had since his election, the voters have swung wildly against him and as he said at [the Annual National Prayer Breakfast last week] his ego can’t stand another loss. So, we have to prepare for the worst.”
The Republicans will dismiss this as typical alarmism on the part of their opponents. But the entrenchment becomes more pronounced with each passing week. While British politics has become convulsed by the content of the Epstein files, the horrific implications and full truth of that historical scandal continue to simmer beneath the daily rush of stories and announcements emanating from the White House.
Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite and Epstein’s accomplice in his years of sex trafficking and abuses, was due to feature on Capitol Hill on Monday to give evidence to virtual closed-door testimony to the House oversight committee. Her lawyer said she was planning to invoke her fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination and decline to answer all substantive questions.
And Thomas Massie, the deeply conservative Kentucky Republican who has all but replaced Schiff as the president’s least favourite House member, vowed to go to the department of justice to view the unredacted files. He also appeared on CNN to recommend that Trump’s commerce secretary resign over his appearance in the files.
“Howard Lutnick clearly went to the island if we believe what’s in these files; he was in business with Jeffrey Epstein, and this was many years after Jeffrey Epstein was convicted. He’s got a lot to answer for, but really, he should make life easier on the president, frankly, and just resign.”
None of this was likely to enhance Trump’s enjoyment of the annual sports extravaganza on Sunday evening. As expected, New England were destroyed by Seattle’s defensive grinder. Football season is over. The white-hot sub-zero winter goes on.
