'MAGA is freaking out': Analyst says Bad Bunny showed Dems how to win the shutdown fight
Trump supporters and protesters gather outside a campaign rally (and accompanying anti-Trump protest) for President Trump and US Senate candidate Martha McSally. (Eric Rosenwald / Shutterstock.com)

The popular singer known as Bad Bunny just showed Democrats how to win the ongoing shutdown fight, according to a political analyst.

Molly Jong-Fast, host of the “Fast Politics” podcast and the author of “How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter’s Memoir," wrote a piece on Saturday in the New York Times called, "The N.F.L. Gets It. Why Don’t Democrats?"

According to Jong-Fast, the NFL's decision to book Bad Bunny for its halftime show was a calculated one.

"The reason the N.F.L. picked Bad Bunny is the same reason that Jimmy Kimmel’s first show after his suspension had huge viewership, that 'South Park' is having its best ratings in years and that Target’s sales are off since it dropped its D.E.I. efforts. Let’s face it: Woke is good for business," she wrote. "There’s a lesson here for the Democrats trying to sell themselves — and this government shutdown — to an America skeptical of the party’s ability to move the ball down the field, much less win the big game."

The political analyst goes on to argue that Democrats in power aren't currently doing enough to be "defiant" of Trump's shutdown strategy.

"The problem is that the Democrats are depending on Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Hakeem Jeffries, two reasonable-seeming, compromise-oriented low-charisma legislators, as their leaders. And they are arguing against Mr. Trump’s wildly unpopular Big Beautiful Bill. Now is not the time for that," she added. "The Democrats need to empower messengers that the establishment is scared of, people who don’t delight megadonors. Democrats need to stake their claims on a set of strong beliefs, and see if Americans will follow. They need to stop being lawyerly and timid."

Going even further, she argues, "It’s a good sign that MAGA is freaking out about Bad Bunny," whom she dubs "one of the biggest pop stars in the world."

"Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show last February, which was freighted in all manner of bracing and defiant political symbolism, was the most-watched performance in history, drawing 133.5 million viewers. It broke the record held by Michael Jackson’s 1993 halftime performance," she then concluded. "Democrats need to listen for the roar of the crowd."

Read the full essay here.