A South Carolina Republican defended former President Trump on Tuesday for repeatedly describing the United States as a declining nation.
CNN’s Kasie Hunt pressed Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) on recent comments made by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), who jabbed the former president for “whining” about the state of the nation. The former president has often referred to the U.S. as a “nation in decline” and a “failing nation” in his attacks against Democrats and President Biden.
Norman said that it was correct for Trump to criticize the country.
“He is exactly right. Look at what’s happening in this country. Talk to the average voter out there who’s very upset with inflation. They’re very upset with the 13 to 15 million illegals coming into this country,” he told Hunt on Tuesday, apparently referring to estimates of the total number of unauthorized immigrants in the country.
Norman added that the U.S. was “once the greatest country on Earth” and is now in a “rapid decline.”
Hunt had played a video clip from an interview with Shapiro on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki,” where the governor said Trump has “got to quit whining” about the country.
“So, I got a message to Donald Trump and all of his negativity and whining: Stop s— talking America,” Shapiro said on MSNBC. “This is the greatest country on Earth and it’s time that we all start acting like it. The good people of Pennsylvania understand that this is a great country, understand that we got a whole lot going for us.”
Hunt later asked Norman if there was any country that was greater than the U.S., but lawmaker dodged the question.
“Well, unless we get our finances in order, unless we stop spending and printing money, we cannot continue what we have been in the past, which is a shining city on a hill. And it’s the direct result of the liberal policies that this administration has continued to … put the American people through,” Norman replied.
Norman was the only House member to endorse former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) for the Republican nomination for president. He moved to endorse Trump after Haley suspending her campaign, saying it was “time to unite.”