The South Carolina Republican on Tuesday defended former President Trump, who has repeatedly said the United States is a nation in decline.
CNN’s Casey Hunt asked Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) about recent comments made by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D). Shapiro criticized the former president for “whining” about the state of the country. The former president often describes the United States as “a shambles.” “A nation in decline” He then attacked the Democratic Party and President Biden, saying “the country is falling apart.”
Norman said Trump was right to criticize the country.
“He’s absolutely right. Look at what’s going on in this country. Talk to ordinary voters who are very upset about inflation. They’re very upset about the influx of 13 to 15 million illegal immigrants into this country,” he told Hunt on Tuesday, apparently referring to an estimate of the total number of illegal immigrants in the country.
Norman added that the United States was “once the greatest nation on Earth” but is now “in rapid decline.”
Hunt played a clip of an interview with Shapiro on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki,” in which the governor said President Trump “needs to stop complaining about the country.”
“So to Donald Trump and all his negativity and whining, I say this: Stop talking trash about America,” Shapiro said on MSNBC. “America is the greatest country on earth and it’s time for all of us to start acting like it. The good people of Pennsylvania understand that this is a great country and we have a lot of potential.”
Hunt then asked Norman if there was a greater country than the United States, but Norman dodged the question.
“Well, unless we get our finances in order and stop spending and printing money, we cannot continue to be the shining city on a hill that we have been in the past, and that is a direct result of the liberal policies that this administration continues to impose on the American people,” Norman responded.
Norman was the only member of the House of Representatives to endorse former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (Republican) in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. After Haley suspended her campaign, Norman said, “It’s time to come together,” and moved to endorse Trump.
