While We Argue About Music, They’re Targeting the Ballot

By Travis Henry

I’ll admit it: I’m guilty. I fell for the trap. For the last week, I’ve been as plugged into the “Bad Bunny vs. Kid Rock” discourse as everyone else. I’ve scrolled through the memes, posted on social networks, watched the commentary videos, chuckled and engaged in the vitriol. It’s entertaining, in a train-wreck sort of way. It’s easy to get sucked into a debate about musical merit and “woke” halftime shows while the world burns.

But it’s a distraction—a shiny object designed to keep our eyes off the road. It’s the equivalent of “Greenland is for sale or we are taking it,” the manufactured drama of the food pyramid, attacks on Jimmy Kimmel, or the selective outrage over the Epstein files. It’s noise designed to drown out the sound of a foundation cracking.  

And I was falling for it. I found myself asking “Am I really considering debating the merits of Kid Rock’s music symbolism? Like seriously?”

I needed a reality check, and I found it in a decade-old video of Barack Obama. In the clip, from a 2016 pro-Clinton rally, a Trump supporter began disrupting the event. The crowd did what crowds do—they started booing, getting aggressive, and trying to drown him out. Obama didn’t call for “goons” to throw the man out on his ass, as his successor often did. Instead, he told the crowd to settle down.

He told the crowd to let the man be. He told them to respect free speech and respect the elderly, but most importantly – don’t lose focus.

“Don’t boo. Vote!” Obama said.

We need that mindset right now, because the stakes in 2026 are infinitely higher than they were in 2016. The distractions aren’t just accidental; they are a strategy. While we’re busy arguing about who “won” the Super Bowl halftime show, there is a coordinated battle happening to decide if you’ll even have the right to vote in the next election.

Kid Rock Still Sucks

Now, before we get to the heavy stuff, let’s get one thing straight. Kid Rock still sucks. In fact, the most merciful thing about his recent performance at the “All-American Halftime Show” —for those forced to watch out of “loyalty” to Dear Leader or because of their fear of Latin men —is the growing evidence that it was pre-recorded or handled by his DJ. It was a hollow performance for a hollow movement.

The opening acts weren’t much better. Take Lee Brice’s “Country Nowadays.” It plays like a parody, but tragically, it isn’t. It’s a song sung by a millionaire who just wants to cut his grass, drink a beer, feed his dogs, and watch the news—implying that some shadowy “woke” cabal is stopping him from doing these activities. It’s absurd. You truly cannot make this stuff up.

The MAGA crowd only “loves” Kid Rock because he worships at the altar of Donald Trump. If a Democrat performer on Super Bowl Sunday had lyrics in their catalog like “I like ’em underage” or “Some say that’s statutory, but I say it’s mandatory,” they’d be screaming “pedo!” from the rooftops. Instead, they embrace it. The litmus test isn’t about the artist’s music; it’s about whether you bend the knee or not. MAGA has even welcomed formally shunned freaky Queen of Rap Nicki Minaj into the fold now that she’s “down with Trump.” The hypocrisy is the point.

I’ll be the first to admit I have absolutely no business being a music snob. But I am one anyway. I’m currently stuck on At Fillmore East, and frankly, at this moment I think most other music isn’t worthy. I’ll snap out of it soon when I go back to Widespread Panic or the Dead, but I’m annoyingly picky. My “credentials” aren’t a degree; it’s just that I go to a lot of concerts. I know talent when I see it. If you watched Bad Bunny and didn’t see and hear the sheer artistry and stagecraft, you’re either blind to talent or you’re lying to yourself.

That kind of willful refusal to recognize talent feeds right into the tired refrain that “music these days isn’t the same.” These types call Bad Bunny a disgrace and wax poetic about how things were “back in my day.” But what day was that, exactly? Because, depending on your age, “your day”  was the same one where they were trying to ban Elvis for his hips, the Beatles for their hair, or the Stones for… well, everything. They tried to cancel Twisted Sister, Madonna, Guns N’ Roses, and Nirvana too. The list of “disgraces” is endless.

Look, I’m an old guy, but I’m going to try my damndest not to be the kind of crotchety gatekeeper who hates on the younger generation’s music just because I don’t speak the language or connect with it the same way they do. Every generation deserves its own sound. Every generation also thinks theirs was the last good one, and I’m trying not to fall into that trap. But I can hate on Kid Rock—because he’s from my era and I’ve had decades to listen.

The Real Danger: Nationalizing the Ballot

See how easy that was to get sucked in?  I just spent a lot of time writing about my taste in music—stuff that, in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t matter.

The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart hit the nail on the head recently when he mocked the Fox News  and other government-sponsored talking heads for lamenting that the halftime show failed to “unify the country.”

As Stewart asked: “Why the fuck is it the Super Bowl Halftime entertainer’s job to unify the country? Is that their job? Isn’t there another person whose job description is much more along those lines?”

Trump stopped pretending he wanted that job years ago. Instead, he is working overtime to “nationalize” elections. He’s been floating the idea on podcasts like Dan Bongino’s, suggesting Republicans should “take over” and nationalize the voting in 15 key places.

Trump explicitly named Detroit, Philadelphia, and Atlanta as a few of the specific “places” he wants to “take over”. He even went as far as saying in the Oval Office in early February that “a state is an agent for the federal government in elections.

This isn’t just rhetoric; it’s a direct assault on the Constitution, which gives states the authority to run their own elections.

As Supreme Court  Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson recently warned in her blistering dissents, we are entering a period of “Calvinball jurisprudence“—where the rules are made up as they go to ensure the administration always wins. Whether it’s gutting Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act or using the “shadow docket” to bypass lower courts, the goal is clear: to make your vote irrelevant before it’s even cast. The specific push to gut Section 2 of the VRA is especially dangerous because it is the primary tool used to strike down racial gerrymandering; without it, states would have a green light to ‘crack’ the voting power of cities like Detroit and Atlanta, carving them into pieces to ensure their residents can never elect a representative who actually reflects their interests.

It’s worth noting the The Brennan Center for Justice specifically highlights how Trump’s so-called SAVE America Act, which is being fast-tracked right now, would disenfranchise approximately 60 million rural voters and millions of married women whose birth certificates don’t match their current legal names.

The reports from The Hill, Washington Post, and The New York Times all point to the same terrifying conclusion: the most dangerous man in American history is working with his cronies to ensure that if you do vote in November, it won’t matter. They are “nationalizing” the midterms to turn a local process into a federal tool of control.

What Can We Do?

We have to stop biting the hook. Every minute we spend arguing about Bad Bunny’s outfit is a minute we aren’t talking about the fact that millions of Americans could be disenfranchised by these new “nationalized” rules.

1. Support Voter Advocacy Groups: Organizations like the ACLU and the Brennan Center are the thin line of defense against these unconstitutional executive orders.
   
   
2. Show Up Locally: Democracy is managed at the precinct level. Make your voice heard before “Big Brother” tries to take over your local board.
   
   
3. Keep The Focus: Both Trump and Fox News are masters at mustering up outrage, pitting “MAGA” against “Woke.” While we fight over the stupidest things, the government elite go about their business of amassing wealth and tightening control over everything.

Don’t boo Kid Rock. Don’t get lost in the Bad Bunny memes.

Focus.

Because the right to vote is the only thing they haven’t fully taken yet—and they’re coming for it next.

Let’s see if I can follow my own advice.

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Further Reading & Action

If you want to fight the nationalization of our elections, consider supporting these organizations:

• The Brennan Center for Justice: Currently leading the legal analysis and opposition to the SAVE America Act’s restrictive registration requirements.
• The ACLU Voting Rights Project: Actively litigating to protect what remains of the Voting Rights Act from being dismantled by federal overreach.
• The Democracy Defense Project: A bipartisan effort (co-chaired by leaders like Nevada’s Brian Sandoval) that is pushing back against unconstitutional attempts to federalize state election administration.
• Common Cause: Working at the local level to ensure that election certification remains in the hands of non-partisan local officials.