‘Our country is going to die’: Trump ramps up his apocalyptic rhetoric in latest rally speech

Donald Trump has ramped up his apocalyptic claims about the upcoming election, claiming the US is on the verge of “dying”.

Donald Trump has claimed the United States is “going to die” if he loses November’s presidential election, in a rally speech that was wide-ranging in its subject matter, even by his standards.

On Saturday, US time, Mr Trump travelled to Pennsylvania, perhaps the most important swing state in that upcoming election, to address a crowd of his supporters.

“Our country’s going to die,” he told them, referring to the prospect of his opponent, current Vice President Kamala Harris, becoming president next January.

Some of his other gripes were more specific.

‘I’m much better looking’

Mr Trump spent a fair chunk of time riffing on a recent Time magazine cover featuring Ms Harris, suggesting a sketch artist had made her look better.

“I mean Time magazine. Think of this. Time magazine. Doesn’t have a picture of her. They have this unbelievable artist drawing her,” said Mr Trump.

“And I said, is that Sophia Loren? Who might that be? Is that Elizabeth Taylor? They say she was a beautiful woman.

“Who is it? So, beautiful drawing. It’s a drawing. They took a lot of pictures. It didn’t work out. So they hired a sketch artist.

“I said, ‘I’m sure, oh, they must be celebrating the great life and times of the magnificently beautiful Sophia Loren.’ And you are not allowed to say this anymore.”

The Time cover featuring Ms Harris.

Kamala Harris in real life. Picture: Elijah Nouvelage/AFP

Actress Sophia Loren.

Mr Trump went on to refer to Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, who was a speechwriter for former president Ronald Reagan.

“I read a so-called Republican, who Ronald Reagan didn’t like, by the way, and she didn’t like him, but she got credit for being this Reagan speechwriter. Highly overrated. I don’t know anything about her. I don’t know her. Treated me badly. But that’s OK,” he said.

“She called it wrong. She has called it wrong now for about eight years. But she said one thing that got me. She said Kamala has one big advantage — she is a very beautiful woman. She’s a beautiful woman. So I decided to go back and re-read the clause.

“But I say that I am much better looking than her. I think I’m much better. I’m a better looking person than Kamala.”

Mr Trump made similar comments during his interview with billionaire Elon Musk earlier in the week, during which he compared the sketch of Ms Harris to his wife, Melania.

“I saw a picture of her on Time magazine today. She looks like the most beautiful actress ever to live,” he said in that interview.

“Actually, she looked very much like our great first lady, Melania. She didn’t look like Camilla (sic). That’s right. But of course, she’s a beautiful woman.”

‘Biden hates her’

During (more scripted) remarks on Ms Harris’s economic policies, which he characterised as an “inflation tax”, Mr Trump went off on a tangent claiming President Joe Biden “hates” his Vice President for replacing him as the Democratic Party’s nominee.

“Hey look, look, Joe Biden hates her. OK? Hates her,” he said.

“You don’t mind if I go off teleprompter for a second, do you? Joe Biden hates her. This was an overthrow of a president. This was an overthrow.”

Mr Biden withdrew from the race last month, having endured weeks of mounting pressure from within his own party to step aside.

The catalyst for that decision was his abysmal performance in a televised debate against Mr Trump on June 27, which reinforced voters’ existing concerns about the 81-year-old’s age and mental acuity.

Mr Trump during the rally in Pennsylvania. Picture: Jim Watson/AFP

Mr Trump, 78, is aggrieved that, after years of effort campaigning against Mr Biden, he has been forced to confront a new opponent at short notice.

“What happened to Biden? I was running against Biden. Now all of a sudden, I am running against somebody else. It’s true. It’s interesting. I said, who am I running against? They said Harris. I said, who the hell is Harris?” he said.

“They went out and I spent $US100 million fighting Joe Biden. They told him he couldn’t win. His debate performance wasn’t the best ever. But they said mine was the best ever. But they said his debate performance wasn’t.

“I look forward to debating her by the way. She’ll be easier. She’ll be easier than him.”

Mr Trump and Ms Harris have both agreed to a debate on September 10, to be broadcast by America’s ABC News network. He has unsuccessfully tried to set up an earlier debate, on Fox News, on September 4.

‘Why are we having an election?’

On a related note, Mr Trump continued to attack Ms Harris for taking over as the Democratic nominee without competing in any primaries.

Mr Biden ran virtually unopposed in the Democratic Party’s primaries earlier this year, earning about 87 per cent of the total vote. At that point, he and his party were still insisting he would be the candidate in November’s election.

“You know, they do polls on this stuff, and I’m at like 93 per cent. I said, so why are we having an election? They didn’t have an election. Why are we having an election?” said Mr Trump.

The former President won 76 per cent of the total Republican primary vote, with former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley taking 20 per cent.

However, polls now show Mr Trump can expect to earn the vote of more than 85 per cent — and probably even more than 90 per cent — of Republicans in the general election. Ms Harris is registering similarly strong numbers among Democratic voters.

Joe Biden was unceremoniously forced out of the race after his terrible performance in the first presidential debate. Picture: Samuel Corum/AFP

“Does anyone here feel richer under Kamala Harris and Crooked Joe? Is anything less expensive under Kamala Harris or Crooked Joe? No. It’s been it’s been devastating,” Mr Trump continued, getting back to the economy.

“Inflation has been devastating under this group of people that have no idea what the hell they’re doing.

“Are you better off with Kamala and Biden than you were under President Donald J Trump? I don’t think so.

“I believe she will be easier to beat than him because she’s a truly radical left lunatic.”

‘They are monsters’

The former President once again hit out at the Biden administration’s management of America’s southern border with Mexico.

“She said we are not going to use the term ‘illegal aliens’. No, they are illegal aliens, but she said don’t ever use that term,” said Mr Trump.

“They are not just illegal aliens, honestly, they are monsters. These are savage monsters.”

Donald Trump. Picture: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images via AFP

And he said the US was “going to hell” under the alleged incompetence of its current government (while adding, as something of a non-sequitur, that his supporters wanted him to speak “all day”).

“They want me to speak all day. You know, when I leave, I did one (that was) two hours and 15 minutes, and I’m leaving. And they’re screaming, ‘No sir, more. We want to hear more.’ I say, ‘I can’t speak more.’ What the hell else am I going to say? Our country’s going to hell. That’s all I can say. We’re a nation in decline,” he said.

“You know, we were talking about that before. My phrases are copied so much, right? I use the term oftentimes in closing, we are a nation in decline. We are a failed nation. And I think it’s a beautiful phrase, although I don’t like the topic very much.

“But there’s a certain beauty. All of a sudden, all of these candidates, including we Republicans, are saying we are a nation in decline, we are a failing nation. And I say, you know, what the hell do they have to copy me for? But they have a lot of words.

“Many of our words were in the plane before coming in, and our people said that we went through a list. I think we’re going to release a list. Let’s release it.

“But so many of our phrases they copy, I should be – really, that should be a nice thing, not an insult.”