The day before Tuesday’s Republican gubernatorial primary, Lou Barletta and his loyalists were calling out former President Donald Trump for backing Barletta’s chief rival, State Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin.

They were criticizing Trump for not returning the loyalty that Barletta showed toward him in being one of the first to endorse Trump when he ran for president in 2016 and for agreeing to Trump’s suggestion to give up his safe seat in Congress and challenge U.S. Sen. Bob Casey in 2018. Barletta lost badly in that election, which apparently was the main reason why Trump did not support him this year. Casey won handily with 56% of the vote to Barletta’s 43%. Trump said he passed over Barletta who he said “ran a very bad race” in 2018.

On Tuesday, Barletta again polled poorly, losing to Mastriano, who had more than twice as many votes - 44% to 20%. With Trump’s endorsement in his back pocket, Mastriano rode an already strong lead to a relatively easy victory in a field of nine candidates. One of them, a local candidate, Dr. Nche Zama of Pocono, had just 1.2% of the votes and wound up dead last.

State Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre, and former U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart, R-Allegheny, dropped out of the race the week before the primary and threw their support to Barletta and spoke in his support at the Wilkes-Barre Township rally on election eve, but it made virtually no difference. Both names remained on the primary ballot, with Hart placing fifth with 3.9% of the vote and Corman seventh with 1.9%. Bill McSwain, who was considered one of the top three contenders until he was bad-mouthed by Trump several weeks ago, finished a distant third with 15.5%.

Barletta beat Mastriano in Carbon and Schuylkill counties, but lost in Monroe, Northampton and Lehigh counties.

At the Wilkes-Barre Township rally that closed out his campaign, Barletta conceded that Trump’s endorsement of his rival was impactful. In what turned out to be the poorest prediction of the campaign, Barletta followed up his comment by saying, “President Trump, you’re completely wrong, and I’m going to prove it on Tuesday.”

Former U.S. Rep Tom Marino, R-Pa., who spoke at Barletta’s rally, came down hard on Trump. “I’m incredibly disappointed and disgusted with Trump, and actually hurt,” Marino said. “He didn’t even have the decency to call Lou and tell him he was supporting someone else. Fate is a funny thing, and we have a big surprise for him.”

As it turned out, the big surprise was on Marino and the rest of the Barletta backers seeing how far behind their candidate ended up.

Marino first questioned Trump’s actions during a weekend Barletta rally in Williamsport when he said, “Where the hell is the loyalty?” He reminded Trump that he and Barletta were among the first to support his presidential candidacy six years ago at a time when his nomination seemed improbable in a field of 17 Republican candidates. Another speaker at Monday’s Barletta rally was state Sen. Lisa Baker, D-Luzerne, who referenced the “curveball” Trump threw at Barletta.

Democrats whom I have spoken to are euphoric that Mastriano won the GOP primary. They believe that he will be the easiest of the candidates that Democratic nominee Josh Shapiro will be able to defeat in November. The state Attorney General was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

A reminder to Shapiro and his supporters: In 2016, Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton and her supporters were equally ecstatic when Trump won the GOP nomination for president, and we know how that turned out.

Many Republicans are concerned that Mastriano’s extreme views and agenda will not play well to moderate Republicans and independents and in the end cost them key losses with down ballot candidates, most especially a Senate seat, which is now held by Pat Toomey, a Lehigh County Republican who is not seeking re-election. Such a loss could mean continued Democratic control of the Senate after the midterm elections.

Mastriano is all in on the unfounded conspiratorial theory that Trump won the 2020 presidential election in Pennsylvania. Despite recounts and court challenges, the 80,000-vote Biden victory held up under intense scrutiny, and the Democrat, who went on to become the 46th President, won the state’s 20 electoral votes.

Mastriano supports banning all abortions - no exceptions. He is squarely in opposition of Critical Race Theory instruction in public schools and opposes “jabs for jobs” - a requirement for employees to be vaccinated if they want to continue working at some companies and facilities. Mastriano also was at the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally, although he insists that he did nothing illegal at the Capitol. He generated much controversy a few weeks ago by speaking at a QAnon conference about conspiracy theories concerning the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.