ArcaMax

SAN DIEGO -- This is definitely Marco's moment.

When you have a president who makes foreign policy his jam, his secretary of state is sure to be at center stage -- especially when he moonlights as national security adviser.

-- On Feb. 28, just hours after the United States had launched strikes on Iran, President Donald Trump was holding court with about two dozen 25 GOP donors at Mar-a-Lago. According to NBC News, Trump mischievously asked the group who he should support for president in 2028: Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio? Judging by their cheering, Rubio was the clear favorite.

-- On Mar. 5, at a White House ceremony for Major League Soccer champions Inter Miami CF, Trump twice called attention to Rubio, whom he predicted would "go down as the best secretary of state in the country's history." Trump said the same thing at the State of the Union Address. Although the president sees Vance as the "most likely" heir to the GOP nomination, he always slips in a positive word about Rubio.

-- On Mar. 6, Trump told CNN that Cuba is "going to fall pretty soon" and that our cold war nemesis wants to talk. "They want to make a deal, and so I'm going to put Marco (Rubio) over there and we'll see how that works out." That will be quite a show given that the 54-year-old Cuban American -- who calls himself "the son of exiles" -- would likely welcome regime change. "He's waiting," Trump said coyly.

A note about that "son of exiles" business. According to The Washington Post and The St. Petersburg Times, Mario and Oriales Rubio came to Florida in 1956. They were immigrants, not exiles.

That distinction may not mean anything to most Americans. But it means a lot to Cuban Americans -- and also to their distant primos Mexican Americans, with whom they have virtually nothing in common except the Spanish language.

In immigrating to the United States, Cubans get preferred status. Thanks to the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, Cuban refugees who flee the island and reach the U.S. shoreline have a clear path to legal residency and eventual citizenship. Meanwhile, Mexican immigrants aren't so lucky. So when Cuban-Americans take a hard line against illegal immigration and act like they came over on the Mayflower, Mexican Americans want to fight. After all, that's easy for them to say.

During his 14 years in the Senate, Rubio's record on immigration was spotty. He supported hateful legislation from GOP colleagues, flip-flopped on a legally flawed Arizona immigration law that roped local and state police into enforcing federal immigration law and came out against a version of The Dream Act that would have given legal status to young illegal immigrants who go to college or enlist in the military.

None of that played well with Mexican-Americans, who represent about 60% of the U.S. Latino population. Most of them disliked Rubio while he was in the Senate. And now that he has hitched his wagon to the most anti-immigrant president in U.S. history, they detest the man.

I see Rubio differently. In a dramatic break with my tribe, I can honestly say that I like the guy.

Political observers gush praise for Rubio's political skills. At the top of the list is his ability to communicate.

Rubio has mad skills whenever he opens his mouth. He is just as smart as Vance, but he is much more likable.

I like the fact that he talks lovingly about his parents and the sacrifices they made for him. Rubio's father worked as a bartender, and his mother was a hotel maid.

I like the fact that -- in sharp contrast to a president who is always ready to send Uncle Sam an invoice -- Rubio has spoken humbly about how America owes him nothing, but he owes this country everything.

And I like the fact that, during the recent "Shield of the Americas" summit in Miami, Rubio connected with a roomful of Latin American leaders by addressing them in Spanish. Even Trump -- who signed an executive order declaring English the official language of the United States -- joked that Rubio had a "language advantage" over him.

This was the U.S. Secretary of State, folks. To the best of my knowledge, that has never happened before.

It made for quite a moment in time. As a Latino, I found pride in it. And guess what? Even though Rubio has disappointed now and then, I didn't have to look that hard.

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To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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