Of the four Republicans representing Southwest Florida in Congress, the strongest and most immediate support for President Donald Trump’s Tuesday night message came from the most unlikely source.

Sen. Marco Rubio, who clashed with Trump in the Republican primaries of 2016, gave strong statements in support of Trump and the arguments he made in the nationally televised prime-time address.

In an interview on CNBC on Wednesday morning, Rubio said Trump made good points.

Namely that a wall on the southern border makes sense and that opposition to it is purely political, aimed at hurting the president’s chances at re-election in 2020.

Sen. Rick Scott, by comparison, did not release an official statement in reaction to the Trump speech. Perhaps he was busy setting up shop, having just been sworn in as a senator earlier in the day.

In an interview with The Washington Post last week, Scott declined to say whether he supports a physical barrier across the entire expanse of the southern border.

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U.S. Rep. Frances Rooney, who represents coastal Collier and Lee counties, likewise did not issue a statement in response to the president, but he did issue one on the topic Jan. 4.

Under the heading, “Rooney Demands Wall,” he wrote, “Congressman Rooney has been working with administration to link specific investments in portions of the wall with the number of illegal crossings which will be interdicted if these investments are made. We as a nation cannot continue to allow unvetted, illegal entrants into the United States. We must secure our borders now.”

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart did issue a statement after the president spoke. In it, he artfully avoided mentioning a wall and framed the immigration issue, as he often does, as a multifaceted problem requiring a comprehensive solution.

“The United States has the responsibility to determine who and what goes through its borders,” Diaz-Balart wrote. “There are numerous issues that are problematic and remain unsolved.

"We must modernize our visa system so that American business owners have the power to lawfully hire employees for job vacancies that are hard to fill," he wrote. "Modernizing our visa system also allows us to better track who is traveling through our borders.

"We must find a solution to the more than 11 million undocumented individuals who are living in the shadows, and that solution must be reasonable and humane.

"Lastly, a bipartisan solution to immigration reform must bolster the economy and respect the rule of law of this great nation,” Diaz-Balart wrote.

Rubio, in contrast, focused on Trump’s agenda and backed it up.

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“I don’t understand this irrational resistance to border security,” he said, noting that the $5 billion being sought by Trump would pay not just for a physical barrier on parts of the border but other top priorities listed by Homeland Security officials.

“I think his request is quite reasonable,” Rubio said.

A wall, or anything else that would make crossing into the country more difficult, would deter migrants from attempting to illegally enter the U.S., he said.

“We’ve got to get to work on that border security plan. It (the open border) is a magnet,” Rubio told the CNBC hosts.

He offered an opinion on why the standoff continues.

“This is all politics,” Rubio said. "If they (Democrats) can get the president to back down and cave, they believe it will be a devastating blow to him. If his name was anything other than Trump, I think he would have gotten it."

Apparently, the “small hands” and “Little Marco” jibes are behind them.

Connect with Brent Batten at brent.batten@naplesnews.com, on Twitter @NDN_BrentBatten and at facebook.com/ndnbrentbatten.