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WILKES-BARRE &mdash; As Former U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta sat and listened to President Donald Trump deliver his acceptance speech Thursday night on the White House South Lawn, he thought back to March 22, 2016.
				That&rsquo;s when Barletta endorsed Trump for the Republican nomination for president. His colleague, former U.S. Rep. Tom Marino, was quick to join Barletta &mdash; prompting Trump to later call them &ldquo;Thunder and Lightning.&rdquo;
				After a lot of thunder during the course of the 2016 presidential campaign, lightning struck and Trump was elected 45th President of the U.S.
				Barletta was sitting 10 rows back Thursday night, rubbing elbows with football legend Herschel Walker and MyPillow founder Mike Lindell.
				&ldquo;After a century of doing things their (Democrats&rsquo;) way, Trump changed it all,&rdquo; Barletta said. &ldquo;Washington hasn&rsquo;t changed Donald Trump &mdash; Donald Trump has changed Washington.&rdquo;
				Barletta went right to the core of what he has always believed &mdash; that the Democratic Party has always catered to &ldquo;Hollywood elitists,: while Trump highlighted &ldquo;real people, good Americans.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;President Trump is about putting people first,&rdquo; Barletta said. &ldquo;He has always been for average, hardworking Americans.&rdquo;
				Barletta then said this of Biden: &ldquo;Joe Biden has been in Washington for 47 years. When he was first elected, he served with people who were born in the 1800s.&rdquo;
				2016
				Trump&rsquo;s victory over Hillary Clinton was thanks in great part to him winning Pennsylvania&rsquo;s 20 electoral votes. Luzerne County played a key role in Trump&rsquo;s victory &mdash; the first time for a Republican presidential candidate to win Pennsylvania since 1988.
				Trump drew huge crowds everywhere he went &mdash; in two appearances at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, Trump had more than 11,000 people in attendance each time, with thousands more turned away at the door.
				Barletta endorsed Trump very early in the campaign and Trump appointed him to his Presidential Transition Team. Barletta even claimed that he and Trump talked about Barletta joining Trump&rsquo;s Cabinet &mdash; first as Secretary of Transportation and then as Secretary of Labor. Barletta decided to remain in Congress, saying he felt he could help Trump more and also have more influence with Trump in the White House.
				Barletta would later run for the U.S. Senate and lose to Democratic incumbent Sen. Bob Casey.
				Trump&rsquo;s message of &ldquo;Make America Great Again&rdquo; resonated with voters across the country and in Luzerne County. Voters stood in line for two and three hours to cast their ballots for the billionaire businessman.
				When Barletta endorsed Trump in 2016, he said the Republican Party should stop trying to figure out how to stop Trump and, instead, try to understand why he is so popular.
				&ldquo;Voters are smart,&rdquo; Barletta said back then. &ldquo;We need to listen to the voters instead of elitists trying to tell us right from wrong. In state after state, voters have made it clear that they want change and are tired of the way things are being done in Washington. I think Donald Trump is the best person to bring the change that Americans are demanding.&rdquo;
				Not surprising, Trump&rsquo;s tough stand on illegal immigration caught Barletta&rsquo;s attention. When he was the mayor of Hazleton, Barletta fought to crack down on illegal immigration, using the catch phrase, &ldquo;legal is legal.&rdquo; He has continued that fight in Washington.
				Barletta was just one of a few Republicans in Congress to endorse Trump so early in the 2016 campaign.
				&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure they&rsquo;re not excited about it,&rdquo; he then said of his GOP colleagues. &ldquo;But I didn&rsquo;t think that the Washington establishment should have interfered with the primary process to begin with. Some 75% of the American people believe the country is going in the wrong direction and the other 25% are here in Washington.&rdquo;
				Those words seem somewhat prophetic four years later, as Barletta prepares to help Trump win a second term. 
				Barletta said he could see that voters were unhappy and frustrated. He said a record number of Democrats were switching parties to support Trump.
				In a 2016 news release announcing his endorsement of Trump, Barletta said he wanted the next president to be a leader who fights for the American people and gets things done, not a politician who tries to say all the right things but will never be able to deliver on more broken promises.
				Barletta went on to say that Republicans and Democrats alike &ldquo;are tired of Congress working for special interests instead of the national interest, and talking about our nation&rsquo;s problems instead of fixing them.&rdquo;
				Back to the future
				Barletta said Trump&rsquo;s acceptance speech Thursday night was low key for the President. He said he mentioned Biden&rsquo;s name a lot to draw the sharp contrast between the candidates.
				&ldquo;Biden has been in Washington for so long, but what has he actually done? What has he changed?&rdquo; Barletta asked.
				Barletta said Thursday night&rsquo;s event was surreal.
				&ldquo;Not that long ago I endorsed Trump and my colleagues all laughed at me,&rdquo; Barletta said. &ldquo;And here I was sitting on the South Lawn of the White House watching him deliver his acceptance speech as he accepted the Republican nomination.&rdquo;
				So is Barletta considering getting back into the political arena?
				&ldquo;I feel like a retired ballplayer who goes back for an oldtimers game and feels like he can still play,&rdquo; Barletta said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why I&rsquo;m working so hard to help Trump &mdash; he helps people who have been left behind. That&rsquo;s why the old guard in Washington hates him.&rdquo;
				Barletta said he was filled with pride Thursday night as he watched the President continue tom stand up for all the people who feel like they&rsquo;ve been pushed out and ignored.
				&ldquo;And I felt extremely proud that I picked the right horse in a 17-horse race four years ago.&rdquo;

Four years later, Barletta proud he ‘picked the right horse’