Actor and comedian John Leguizamo was questioned in an interview about Trump gaining support with Latino voters this election cycle, and ignored and dismissed valid criticisms of Kamala Harris.
Fox News reports:
During an interview with TMZ, Leguizamo was asked about Vice President Kamala Harris polling lower with Latino voters than President Biden had when he was the 2024 presidential nominee. The “John Wick” and “Encanto” actor said Harris needed to be more “aggressive” and “court” Latinos, suggesting the VP needed a big-name celebrity to endorse her and encourage younger people in this demographic to vote.
Harris has already received a great number of celebrity endorsements, including Taylor Swift. While Taylor Swift may not be particularly influential amongst Hispanic Americans, the suggestion that a celebrity endorsement is what the Harris campaign is missing is difficult to make sense of.
Puerto Rican reggaeton artist Anuel AA notably broke with tradition, becoming the first star from the genre to formally endorse President Trump. Many also speculate that despite previous condemnations, Cuban rapper Pitbull is supporting the former President, but has not yet made his support public.
“Latino people are not a monolith. No group is, right? So, religious Latinos, they are anti-abortion and homophobic. You might get them, because the thing Latinos care most about is jobs and housing.”
Kamala Harris stated that part of her economic plan included $20,000 grants to first-time homebuyers, but many dismissed it as insufficient, and doing nothing to address the issue of affordability, noting that when the average home costs almost $400,000, $20,000 doesn’t go a long way.
He also accused Hispanic voters that favor Trump on immigration of lacking empathy and sympathy, saying “I think a lot of immigrants who came here are competitive with other immigrants coming in for some weird reason and have no sympathy or empathy for people looking for a better life.”
He continued, “Nobody wants to come to the border that way…you only do that if you have no other option. If you’re running away from violence, starving to death.”
Perhaps Leguizamo’s career has shielded him from the more sinister reality of illegal immigration. Jocelyn Nungaray was a 12-year-old Hispanic girl brutally assaulted, murdered and tossed in a creek by two well-fed border crossers. Though many Venezuelan migrants are fleeing Maduro’s communist regime, a startling number of violent gang members have entered the United States and according to their rap sheets, they don’t seem particularly eager to work.
He then goes on to blame the economy on Trump despite most of the economic devastation being linked to draconian and unscientific lockdowns championed and prolonged by Democrats at the federal, state and local levels.
He defended the Biden-Harris administration saying, “Because Latinos, they’re blaming him [Biden] for the economy, which they shouldn’t be because COVID was the culprit and Trump not handling COVID was the culprit in damaging our economy.”
The Biden-Harris administration has claimed to restore the economy and jobs after jobs eliminated by COVID were reintroduced, and creating new government positions.
In 2020, he had much harsher words for Hispanic people supporting Trump. In an episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher,” he said, “Latin people for Republicans are like roaches for Raid. Let’s just get real,” Leguizamo said on an episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher. I think there’s a level of self-hate or just lack of care for the rest of your Latin brothers and sisters who are in cages, who are being demonized by this president.”
Fox News continues:
Hispanic voters give Trump a 42% to 37% advantage over Harris regarding immigration policy, Reuters/Ipsos polling from late August shows. These voters also prefer Trump’s platform on the economy by 45% to 36%, but they give Harris a double-digit advantage on the issues of health care and climate change, according to the poll.
