Trump: US 'No Longer a Great Nation,' Now a 'Joke'

Perhaps in a proverbial homage to the political storm looming over America, former President Donald Trump cut his Save America rally short Saturday night, due to inclement weather, denouncing the damage President Joe Biden and Democrats have done to the country.

"It is no longer a great nation," Trump told his crowd in Mendon, Illinois, at a rally that aired live on Newsmax. "It is a nation in decline — hate to say this to you."

In newly written closing remarks at his trademark political rallies, Trump excoriated Biden and Democrat rule after he left office January 2021.

"A nation that has the highest inflation in over 40 years, and likewise has the highest energy costs in its history — we have never had anything like what's happened with energy and energy costs," Trump continued. "It is no longer energy independent or energy dominant like it was just two years ago.

"It's a nation that is begging Venezuela and Saudi Arabia for oil."

Trump added a further rebuke on Biden's deadly unconditional withdrawal from Afghanistan and permitting Russia to invade Ukraine.

"It's a nation that surrendered in Afghanistan, leaving dead soldiers, American citizens, and $85 billion worth of the finest military equipment in the world behind," Trump said. "It's a nation that allowed Russia to devastate a country, Ukraine, killing hundreds of thousands of people, and it will only get worse."

Trump noted those self-inflicted crises would have not happened if he had remained president after the 2020 presidential election.

"It would never have happened with me, and it didn't happen with me," Trump said. "It's a nation that has weaponized its law enforcement against the opposing political party like never before. A nation that no longer has a free press or a fair press. Fake news is all you get, and they are the enemy of the people.

"It's a nation where free speech is no longer allowed, where crime is rampant, where the economy is collapsing, where more people died of COVID in 2021, than in 2020.

"It's a nation that is allowing Iran to build a massive nuclear weapon — would never have happened — and China to use the trillions of dollars that has taken from us to build a military rival. It will be just a disaster for the world."

Trump said the loss of respect on the world stage might be the most devastating result of the Biden administration's takeover.

"Perhaps most importantly, a nation that over the past two years is no longer respected or listened to around the world," Trump said. "It is a nation that, in many ways, has become a joke.

"And it's a nation that is hostile to our liberty, our freedom, and our faith. It is a nation whose economy is floundering, whose stores are not stocked, whose deliveries are not coming, and whose educational system is ranked in the lowest quadrant of 45 countries and yet spends more money per student than any other country by three times."

Trump reiterated his intentions to continue to fight to make American great again — albeit stopping short of declaring a 2024 presidential campaign.

"We are not going to let this continue," Trump concluded. "Two years ago, we had the greatest nation in the world, like never before. We've never had greatness like that. It was hard-working patriots like you that did all of this. You built our country."

Trump then told his supporters to get out of an impending lightning storm, with clouds looming over them, having anticipating speaking longer than the hour he addressed the Illinois crowd.