Like the awards shows of the entertainment industry, season-ending sports competitions such as the World Series and the Super Bowl are a reflection of this country’s social and political mood. True to his experience as a business owner, entertainer, and national leader, Donald Trump made history as the first president to attend the Super Bowl, which took place in New Orleans, home state of House Speaker Mike Johnson, who shared the suite with Trump and his daughter Ivanka.
On the field, there was plenty of attention given to the game’s incumbents, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce as they sought a three-peat for their Kansas City team. Fox News Channel is the president’s favorite network, but its sports affiliate gave as much attention to his presence in the Caesars Superdome as it did for other celebrities watching the game. Trump’s presence was felt at the game as the NFL decided to remove the words “End Racism” on the end zone in favor of “Choose Love,” ostensibly in reaction to recent tragedies that occurred such as the wildfires in California and the car ramming attack by an Islamist on New Year’s Eve in the French Quarter.
The National Anthem was played on the piano by composer Jon Baptiste, a son of New Orleans, who was among the 18 Kennedy Center board members axed by Trump as part of his push to exercise more control over all sectors of government and eliminate DEI. The nonprofit serves as a national shrine for performing arts, akin to the Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow, or the Paris Opera House.
During the pregame show, Trump predicted a win for the Chiefs, who scored no touchdowns in the first half of the game as the Eagles successfully reached the end zone with the ball. The symbolism of the national bird from the country’s city of birth defeating a team honoring Native Americans echoed the administration’s view of history, in which Manifest Destiny is regarded positively, with the aim of its continuation as Trump seeks to annex Greenland, Canada, the Panama Canal, and perhaps the Gaza Strip.
Then there was the Halftime Show, starring rapper Kendrick Lamar. Fearing lyrics and dancing that are not proper for b’nei Torah, we had a choice between Chazaq’s lineup of inspiring speakers, and HANC, my daughter’s school, in which principal Rabbi Ouriel Hazan provided an update on the yeshivah’s new campus, with words connecting the big game to the parshah by Michal Wasser, the Elementary School Assistant Principal for Judaic Studies. After the Jewish halftime videos, we turned back to the game. Removing my hands over their eyes, we were positively surprised to see action movie star Samuel L. Jackson dressed as Uncle Sam as he introduced Kendrick Lamar. Jackson’s characters on screen usually kill people along with pithy foul-mouthed one-liners.
On social media, most viewers gave a poor rating to the concert in which the backup dancers wore the colors of the flag, the lyrics and dance moves were clean, and SZA was wearing pants and full-length sleeves as she accompanied the headline performer. Very tz’nius by secular standards! After years of pushing boundaries, entertainers are apparently embracing patriotism and modest looks.
All in all, it was a memorable game, and the Chiefs’ late-game scoring of points provided a hint of their past glory, which initially was nowhere to be seen. On the following morning, the news cycle returned to the continued avalanche of Trump decrees involving the shutting of agencies, dismissal of thousands of government workers, cabinet appointees who faced virtually no opposition as they faced confirmation hearings, his plan for a Middle Eastern Riviera, and the freshly renamed Gulf of America.
Underscoring this rapid push to remake the government, Time Magazine had an illustration of Elon Musk sitting behind the president’s desk, given authorization by Trump to slice away at USAID’s humanitarian aid mission, the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau, and the National Institutes of Health. There is also the Congressional Budget Office, a strictly nonpartisan agency created by Congress to evaluate the cost and economic impact of legislation. Its mission has apparently been usurped by DOGE.
These agencies were created and funded by Congress as a constitutional prerogative. Blindly obedient to Trump, Republican lawmakers have ceded the fates of federal agencies to him, risking our country’s soft power abroad, leaving the public defenseless against corporate fraud, and cutting off funding for scientific research.
“Proposed cuts misunderstand indirect costs and how they are used to allow research to be performed,” Touro University President Dr. Alan Kadish wrote in a letter to the faculty this week. “Basic science research cannot occur in the absence of laboratory facilities, computer information, technology support, facilities, electricity and grant administration support.”
Noting that the situation is fluid, he asked faculty members to continue with their research projects, unless told otherwise.
It is clear that the mission of DOGE is not to make the government efficient by eliminating transgender book readings funded by USAID. It seeks to eliminate government agencies entirely, leaving thousands of people without jobs and services. The power of public employees as consumers and nonprofits to create jobs and stimulate innovations will be erased, leaving in their wake an oligarchy of the wealthy and well-connected, and those who have the honor of benefiting from their philanthropy. Rather than making it easier to become American, receive an education, and prosper, most Americans will struggle to make ends meet.
The next test for Trump’s mission of reducing the government will be the vote on the budget. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has the option of not voting to keep the government open unless funding and jobs are restored to all agencies.
“I have made clear to House Republican leadership that any effort to steal taxpayer money from the American people, end Medicaid as we know it, or defund programs important to everyday Americans, as contemplated by the illegal White House Office of Management and Budget order, must be choked off in the upcoming government funding bill, if not sooner,” he wrote in a public letter to his colleagues.
He urged them to conduct outreach in their districts to highlight how the elimination of government programs is hurting constituents. In my social circle, support for Trump remains strong, and Musk is regarded as a wacky sidekick who can be jettisoned by Trump if he exceeds his authority (as it is envisioned by Trump rather than lawmakers or courts). I fear that in the same manner that billionaire George Soros is accused of exercising power within my party, now it is Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, who threatens Republican lawmakers with primary challenges if they fall out of line.
What will happen when food pantries, educational programs for the developmentally disabled, senior centers, scholarships, Medicaid, and perhaps even security grants are gone as a result of DOGE? Perhaps by then, the public will recognize that the Trump presidency is not a game. It comes with real-life consequences.
By Sergey Kadinsky
