Marco Rubio argues Bad Bunny and Jennifer Lopez endorsements don’t move the Hispanic vote

Celebrity endorsements were a staple of the Kamala Harris campaign for President, but U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio says they didn’t move the “Hispanic vote.”

“Every expert in the world was saying, well, there’s no way, Donald Trump can even be competitive because Bad Bunny is not supporting him, and Jennifer Lopez and George Lopez,” the Senator said on CNN, referring to three entertainers who prominently endorsed the Democratic presidential nominee.

Trump won Miami-Dade County, as well as Hidalgo County in Texas, two Latino strongholds. And his gains went beyond states he carried. Per Axios, the President-elect outperformed expectations in Central California, suggesting that the Trump “realignment” is coast-to-coast.

Rubio pointed out that many “migrants” were “criminals,” and since they often go to Hispanic neighborhoods, the presence of illegal immigrants places a massive burden on those who came into the country the right way.

“They’re very concerned about the cost of living, the cost of groceries and Donald Trump appealed to Americans as Americans, irrespective of your background or your customs or what music you listen to or how your last name is pronounced,” Rubio said.

The Senator made similar points during an interview with NBC’s “Today.”

“I think the lesson here is that the primary identity of Americans is American,” Rubio said.

He added that whether “you are of Hispanic descent or African American, or any background,” Americans are concerned with “the price of gas, the price of food, the fear of uncertainty and not being safe in your own community because people have entered the country illegally and happen to be criminals in their home countries before they came and then they come here and commit crimes as well.”

“These are things that Donald Trump campaigned on,” Rubio said. “And his primary message was, ‘I’m going to put the interests of Americans in America before anything else.’ And I think that’s a message that’s resonated in a way that led to this very diverse coalition.”