Back in 2016, you could possibly were exhausting pressed to discover a extra stalwart supporter of then-candidate Donald Trump than Lou Barletta.
Barletta, the previous mayor of Hazleton, after which a Republican member of Congress from Pennsylvania, was once certainly one of Trump’s earliest Keystone State backers, and went to bat for him in the race in opposition to Democrat Hillary Clinton.
No extra.
On Friday, Barletta took to Twitter, the place he known as on Trump’s present (and these days undeclared) rival for the GOP White House nomination, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, to make it respectable and simply soar into the race already.
“More than ever our country needs strong leadership, someone that gets things done & isn’t afraid to stand up for what’s right,” Barletta wrote, including that he and previous U.S. Rep. Tom Marinowere “calling on our former colleague@RonDeSantisFL to run for president in 2024. Come on Ron, your country needs you! #NeverBackDown.”
Politics at all times makes for strange alliances, however that’s nonetheless an attractive vital shift in tone from 2016, the place Barletta publicly known as on status quo Republicans to give a boost to Trump in the GOP nominating race that 12 months.
“I wish that the establishment, instead of trying to stop Trump, you know, would look at why he’s so popular and coalesce around him so that it’s one team in November. Donald Trump is bringing a record amount of Democrats and independents…we should embrace that,” Barletta told Politico at the time. “I like that he is willing to stand up and fight for the American people, and as I did as mayor.”
Trump repaid Barletta’s loyalty with an endorsement all the way through his 2018 U.S. Senate marketing campaign, the place he ended up getting stomped, 55%-42%, by means of incumbent U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa.
Four years later, in 2022, Trump snubbed Barletta all the way through his ill-starred 2022 GOP gubernatorial marketing campaign, opting for election-denying state Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin.
Given the previous president’s public distaste for shedding applicants his determination to again Mastriano, who took a historic drubbing by the hands of Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro remaining November, wasn’t a wonder.
And Barletta was once lovely vocal in his dissatisfaction.
“There is no denying there was a big endorsement by President Trump, and I’m going to say this loud and clear,” Barletta mentioned all the way through a 2022 campaign rally, in accordance to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “President Trump, you are dead wrong, and I’m going to prove it on Tuesday.”
Marino, of Lycoming County, who additionally was once in attendance, piled on — and in no unsure phrases.
“I’m incredibly disappointed and disgusted with Trump, and actually hurt,” Marino mentioned all the way through that very same rally, in accordance to the Inquirer. “He didn’t even have the decency to call Lou and tell him he was endorsing someone else. … Fate is a funny thing, and we have a big surprise for him.”
Taken in combination, then, Barletta’s pivot to DeSantis, who’s expected to declare pretty much any day now, additionally isn’t a surprise.
Which isn’t to say that Barletta, who made national headlines for his hardline insurance policies in opposition to undocumented folks all the way through his time as Hazleton’s mayor, has essentially deserted GOP extremism.
In 2022, after making an attempt to rally mainstream Republicans, arguing he was best positioned to defeat Shapiro, Barletta became round and endorsed Mastriano in October 2022.
Still, Barletta’s defection may signal broader problems for Trump, who can’t win the nomination — or the White House — with out successful Pennsylvania.
Speaking to PoliticsPA last week, onetime Trump adviser David Urban, a Pennsylvania local, mentioned he believed “most people in Pennsylvania are open to somebody else” in 2024.
Even Trump loyalists on Urban’s house turf have informed the GOP marketing consultant “we like DeSantis a lot,” despite the fact that they’ve stopped wanting forsaking Trump, PoliticsPA reported.
This observation was once revealed previous by means of the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, an associate of the nonprofit States Newsroom community, which incorporates the Florida Phoenix.