New York – Puerto Rican reggaeton singers Justin Quiles and Anuel AA endorsed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at an event in Pennsylvania, one of the states in the United States with the most Puerto Ricans and a decisive factor in the elections on November 5.
Donald Trump introduced the reggaeton singers at the event this Friday in Johnstown as “the wonderful musical legends of Puerto Rico: Justin Quiles and Anuel AA.”
“Do you know who they are? Do you know who the hell they are? Come quickly, guys, quickly, come on! Because I don’t know if they know who the hell you are,” the former president continued.
“But it is good for the Puerto Rican vote. Every Puerto Rican who votes for Trump…”, added the tycoon.
Anuel AA began by arguing about Puerto Rico’s dependency on the United States. The island has been a territory of the United States for more than a century.
“I am from Puerto Rico, which is a big part of the United States. We really depend on the United States. Since Trump has not been here, it is no secret that we have been through a lot as a country in Puerto Rico,” said the Puerto Rican.
“Biden always promises, promises; many politicians always promise for years, but we all know, the world knows, everyone has experienced it, the best president the world has ever seen, that the country has ever seen, his name is President Trump,” he argued.
“So all Puerto Ricans are going to unite to vote for Trump,” he added.
“I personally spoke with him and he wants Puerto Rico to grow and progress as a country,” he said.
“He wants to continue helping Latinos in the U.S. Let’s keep doing things right. Let’s keep growing as a family and keep making America great again.”
Quiles, for his part, said that what he liked about Trump was that he is not a “puppet.”
“I support him because I think he is the most honest person we have ever had,” he said.
“He tells things as they are and not what he thinks people want to hear, and that is very important,” he said.
“Many Latinos are on Trump’s side, and we love you too. Thank you for sharing with us how important reconstruction is for Puerto Rico,” he said.
“Not only rebuild Puerto Rico, but make America great again,” said the urban music artist while putting on the cap with the aforementioned message (“Make America Great Again”).
“Wow, that was great. That was great. It’s a great honor. These guys are very talented, too,” Trump said to the guests.
Before the rally speech, the two reggaeton singers met the Republican at the Johnstown airport, greeted each other with a handshake and had a brief verbal exchange on the tarmac.
The three then posed together for photographs.
Why did the Trump campaign decide to include Anuel AA and Justin Quiles in the Pennsylvania rally?
The majority of Hispanics in the state of Pennsylvania traditionally vote Democrat, although in recent years the gap between supporters of that party and the Republican has narrowed, according to polls.
Because of the above, the Puerto Rican population is a precious electoral treasure for both Democrats and Republicans.
The fact that these two internationally renowned Puerto Rican reggaeton singers are appearing alongside Trump and publicly endorsing him means that the former president’s campaign team is clear about the potential of the Puerto Rican vote and how this population is capable of determining the outcome of the elections.
Pennsylvania is one of the swing states that is in battle or dispute ahead of the November 5 elections. A swing state is one in which no party has a clear advantage or where the advantage varies depending on the election.
The latest polls place Trump and his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris practically tied in key states such as the one mentioned.
However, following her official nomination at the Democratic National Convention, Harris has managed to narrow the Republican lead.
According to the average of the most recent polls evaluated by FiveThirtyEight, the vice president is 1.8 points ahead of Trump, or 46.7% versus 44.9% in Pennsylvania.
Puerto Ricans in Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the second city in the US with the most Puerto Ricans, only preceded by New York.
About 146,000 Puerto Ricans live in Philly.
More broadly, as of 2019, Pennsylvania had the third-largest concentration of Puerto Ricans in the U.S. with an estimated population of 493,255 or nearly half a million, according to data managed by the Center for Puerto Rican Studies in New York (El Centro).
Puerto Ricans, as US citizens, can vote in federal elections once they move to a state and register.
The opinion that many Puerto Ricans on and off the island have of Trump is not very favorable since his visit in 2017 during the onslaught of Hurricane Maria on the island.
At that time, Trump threw rolls of paper towels at the victims in a church in Guaynaba where he had attended an event.
The images went viral around the world and were seen by many as mocking or insulting Puerto Ricans who were dealing with the storm emergency.
Trump campaign spokespeople have said the images were misinterpreted and that throwing the paper was the only way the president could deal with those present at the time, due to, among other things, security measures.
During that same visit, Trump said that the disaster on the island, comparing it to Katrina in Louisiana in 2005, was not “a real catastrophe.”
Trump’s misguided remarks regarding Puerto Rico continued in September 2018, when the then president denied that Hurricane Maria had caused nearly 3,000 deaths, as evidenced by an independent study by George Washington University commissioned by the government of Puerto Rico.
Trump has also been questioned for the restrictions he imposed on the disbursement of federal reconstruction funds on the island.
Arguing that authorities on the island are corrupt and could misappropriate funds for recovery and reconstruction, the Trump administration in 2019 withheld the release of some $20 million that the U.S. Department of Housing had approved for the island. It also imposed additional restrictions to increase obligations and appointed a federal financial monitor to oversee the aid.
It was not until April 2021 that the federal agency removed the limitations, imposed only on Puerto Rico and not on states, to access certain recovery funds.
Additionally, it unlocked some $8.2 billion in Community Development Block Grant funds for disaster recovery.
Local authorities are currently struggling to expedite the allocation of funds for permanent public works that began to flow in the aforementioned year.
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