Super Bowl Politics

Over 100 Million People Will Watch the Super Bowl.   Of Course it is Political.

Trump versus The Resistance.   Blue State/Red State is all mixed up.  Tom Brady is a Trump supporter.

An astute and careful reader in Virginia, Peter Coster, wrote me:

    "You never said if you were a sports fan.  If so, who do you root for?  [There will be a] big SB party at my house tomorrow.  Lots of great food.  All Pats fans, at least for the day.   I hope people go to church Sunday morning and pray for the Falcons.  When they lose, I want to know why."

I wrote back, saying I heard something about the Patriot QB Tom Bradley being a Trump supporter when comedian Bill Maher said he was cheering for the Falcons because of that.

Coster responded: 

     "Who the hell is Bradley?  I can tell you don't know anything about sports.  His name is Brady!  Come on cousin, pay attention.  I think it bugs the fans in NE that Brady, Belichick, and Kraft know and like Trump.  But they are willing to put up with it.   There's a lot of hate out there for them.  You should never mix politics and sports.  You can't win.  The Trump haters hope the Pats lose."

Meanwhile, there is a betting market on whether Lady Gaga will mention Donald Trump during the halftime show, and also if she will wear a pink hat.   Place your bets.

Will Lady Gaga wear this?

A pink hat, and certainly a pink hat with the knitted "pussy ears" is an overtly political statement of opposition to Trump.  There is widespread speculation on whether the 13 minute show will be political.  Lady Gaga announced that it will be "inclusive", which is, itself, a potentially controversial statement.  "Inclusive" can mean that it intends to unite Trump and Trump resisters by avoiding topics that involve who is inside or outside the American big tent.  Alternatively, it can be directly provocative by defining "inclusive" as an America that includes Muslims, atheists, Mexicans, new immigrants generally, gays, transgendered people, and others who many Americans consider outside that traditional American polity.   "Inclusive "is a fighting word.

Meanwhile, Advertisers have messages.

Bud: Immigrants built America.

Budweiser isn't showing beautiful Clydesdales trotting through snow.  They are making a statement on immigration.  They show a mini-drama of Adolphus Busch's hardships coming to America to brew beer, meeting scorn ("You're not wanted here!"  "Go home!")  traveling to St. Louis and being greeted warmly ("Welcome to St. Louis, son") and shaking hands with Eberhart Anheuser.  The commercial was shot dark, the mood is serious, and the subject matter is the struggle of immigrants and the promise of their contribution.  

Come to America: Anheuser meets Busch

The commercial is the classic uplifting American immigrant story.  It is the direct counter-story to the Trump narrative of immigrants coming here to take our jobs.   It is the Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty, hard work, strive and succeed All-American narrative that neither Hillary Clinton nor anyone else dared to make during the campaign.  Click for the Ad

Mexican Avocados troll conspiracy believers.  

Secret Society secret: Avocados are healthy.

The most ambitious ad is political in the sense that it is an extended mockery of conspiracy believers, inserting the information that avocados are healthy, it presumably being yet another "secret" that has been revealed.  

The ad takes aim at believers in conspiracies, and in the context of birtherism, fake news stories gone viral about pedophile pizza parlors, and alternative facts the ad takes indirect aim at Trump.   Note this is not just an ad for avocados; it is an ad for Mexican avocados, "always in season."  The ad announces the power of subliminal advertising and then mocks itself by inserting an obvious subliminal-type ad for avocados.  The ad has multiple pieces of has quick, funny dialog:  

"Did they find out we deflated the footballs?"  "No, we found a fall guy for that."      Click for the Ad

Censored Ad: There is an ad you will not see on TV, an ad from 84 Lumber Material, a privately held lumber company.  It shows the difficulty of a young Mexican child attempting to come to America.

90 second ad.  Part 1 of 2.

The TV ad is in two parts, with one part available now, Sunday morning.  The rest of the ad was intended to be shown just before halftime but Fox rejected the ad because its depiction of the border wall was considered too political.

Viewers who want to see part one, showing an appealing young girl gathering up a couple of family photos then climbing onto a truck, then a train, then walking across the Sonoran desert toward America will be able to see it: The Journey Begins.  Click below.   The second half of the long ad will be available at the website beginning at halftime: www.84Lumber.com 

Click Here: The Journey Begins

The expressed intent of the ad, according to 84Lumber Materials, is to alert potential employees of job opportunities at the company which is expanding by adding stores.  It is obvious that the owners of this company have a much bigger agenda.  It is a commentary on Mexican immigration.