Two significant events in recent days have highlighted the stark contrast in values dividing America today. Many observers refer to this battle of values as “the culture war.” First, let’s consider the Super Bowl halftime show.
The Super Bowl is an iconic American sporting event. Millions of people from all backgrounds love football. The NFL had an excellent opportunity to bring Americans together with a halftime show that celebrated our shared values, especially this year as we celebrate America’s 250th birthday.
Instead, the NFL’s woke leadership chose to divide the country by selecting Bad Bunny—a cross-dressing, Puerto Rican rapper—as the main performer for the halftime show. If you’re not familiar with Bad Bunny, don’t worry; that’s a good thing. His songs are full of explicit sexual content and vile lyrics. Unfortunately, he has a large following, particularly among young Hispanics.
Days before the Super Bowl, Bad Bunny was on Saturday Night Live. Many Americans were insulted when he told us we needed to learn Spanish to understand his halftime performance. America is a multilingual society, but English is our national unifying language. Next, he appeared at the Grammys and denounced the enforcement of US immigration laws. In fact, he actually canceled his US tour in protest of US efforts to deport illegal foreign nationals in the country.
The Super Bowl is viewed as “family entertainment.” This halftime show was anything but. Sadly, Bad Bunny’s show went largely as expected. Dancers performed provocative moves simulating sex acts, both heterosexual and homosexual, while the background imagery and scenes were saturated with anti-American messaging.1
Outraged members of Congress demanded investigations. The Federal Communications Commission did probe2 the performance and just barely cleared Bad Bunny and the networks of any wrongdoing.
Thankfully, Americans had an alternative show to watch, courtesy of Turning Point USA, founded by the late Charlie Kirk. Turning Point presented an “All-American Halftime Show,” featuring Kid Rock and country artists Lee Brice, Brantley Gilbert, and Gabby Barrett. It was streamed on multiple online platforms. Some estimates suggest at least 25 million Americans switched from watching the Super Bowl’s halftime show to watching Turning Point’s.
Another media analysis3 found that viewership of this year’s Super Bowl was down 13 percent compared to last year, while viewership of the halftime performance fell by 39 percent.
These dueling halftime shows were another reminder of the culture war that continues to divide Americans rather than unite us.
One side mocks Christianity. The other side cherishes it. One side promotes promiscuous sex and gender confusion. The other side upholds God’s design for marriage and the family. One side denounces America as an “evil nation” founded on slavery and wants to transform it through open borders and mass migration. The other side believes in patriotism, secure borders, and the exceptionalism of America as one nation under God.
The second significant event took place at the end of January. A New York jury issued the first medical malpractice decision4 against a psychologist and surgeon for pushing a deeply confused teenager into radical transgender treatments.
Then, just days later, two major medical organizations—the American Society of Plastic Surgeons5 and the American Medical Association6—reversed course and declared that transgender surgeries should not be performed on individuals under the age of nineteen. Suddenly, the “scientific and medical consensus” on so-called “gender-affirming care” vanished.
These are major victories in the culture war. We are grateful that President Trump has fought transgender ideology. He put the full weight of the federal government behind common sense, normalcy, parents, and protecting children.
He signed an executive order ensuring that the United States government recognizes only two sexes—male and female. He signed orders protecting girls’ sports and prohibiting schools from forcing radical gender theories on our children.
His administration conducted a thorough review of the “science” behind gender-denying procedures and exposed just how flawed it was.7 As a result, the Trump administration has warned hospitals that they will lose federal funding if they continue to perform these gruesome procedures on children.
The Left constantly claims that “right-wing Christians” are the ones starting the culture wars and stoking division among Americans. That’s a complete lie. It’s the godless, globalist, secular Left that started the culture wars and constantly stokes division in our country.
The cultural and political Left aggressively pushed prayer out of our schools, and we all see the results.
They push abortion in every state. They took the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman and redefined it in a way no society has ever done.
- Christian conservatives weren’t demanding open borders and mass migration.
- Christian conservatives don’t want to defund the police and abolish our federal immigration police.
- Christian conservatives weren’t the ones vandalizing statues of America’s heroes in the 2020 riots.
Every single one of these “culture war issues” was pushed by the cultural and political Left. The neo-Marxist Left has been waging war on American culture for decades because they want to “fundamentally transform America.”8
There wouldn’t be a “culture war” if it weren’t for radical secularism.
Rest assured, the James Dobson Family Institute is on the front lines in this ongoing fight for faith, family, and freedom. We urge every Christian citizen to get engaged to protect our children and ensure that America remains one nation under God.
- Wayne Felton II, “All the Symbolism You Missed in Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show,” The Root (February 9, 2026), https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/all-the-symbolism-you-missed-in-bad-bunny-s-super-bowl-halftime-show/ar-AA1VZRrh.
- Charles Gasparino, “Bad Bunny and His Super Bowl Halftime Show Just Had a Brush with the FCC: Sources,” New York Post, February 13, 2026, https://nypost.com/2026/02/13/media/bad-bunny-super-bowl-halftime-show-just-had-a-brush-with-the-fcc-sources/.
- John Nolte, “Nolte: Almost Half of Super Bowl Watchers Tuned Out Bad Bunny,” Breitbart News, February 10, 2026, https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2026/02/10/nolte-almost-half-of-super-bowl-watchers-tuned-out-bad-bunny/.
- Shane Galvin, “Detransitioner Wins $2 Million Against New York Docs Who Pushed Double Mastectomy,” New York Post, January 31, 2026, https://nypost.com/2026/01/31/us-news/detransitioner-wins-2-million-against-new-york-docs-who-pushed-double-mastectomy/.
- Misty Severi, “US Plastic Surgeons Organization Recommends Delaying Gender-Affirming Surgery Until Patient Is 19,” Just the News, February 3, 2026, https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/health/us-plastic-surgeons-organization-recommends-delaying-gender-affirming.
- Greg Piper, “American Medical Association Flips on Gender Identity Surgeries, Now ‘Generally’ Opposes for Minors,” Just the News, February 4, 2026, https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/health/american-medical-association-flips-gender-identity-surgeries-now-generally.
- Tyler O’Neil, “HHS Report Shows Why Transgender Activists Silence Critics,” The Daily Signal, November 19, 2025, https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/11/19/new-hhs-report-transgender-care-minors-reveals-why-activists-try-silence-critics-contributor-says/
- Barack Obama, Remarks in Columbia, Missouri, October 30, 2008, in which he stated, “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America,” The American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-columbia-missouri-0.
