Trump Hits Back after Xi Claims US Is ‘Declining Nation’

THE TELEGRAPH: Donald Trump has pushed back on claims made by Xi Jinping that America is a “declining nation”.

The US president accepted that “tremendous damage” had been done to the US in recent years but blamed his predecessor Joe Biden.

“When President Xi very elegantly referred to the United States as perhaps being a declining nation, he was referring to the tremendous damage we suffered during the four years of Sleepy Joe Biden and the Biden Administration, and on that score, he was 100% correct,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social ahead of the second day of talks. » | Emily Blumenthal. Connor Stringer Chief Washington Correspondent, Beijing. Allegra Mendelson Asia Correspondent, Taipei. Robert White | Friday, May 15, 2026

Xi Jinping is right, of course. A blind man could see that the US is in steep decline. The country shows all the signs of an empire in decline. It is rotting from within.

Trump is wrong, and very unfair to blame “Sleepy Joe” for the rot. The rot started for America long before Biden’s presidency. Fact is, America has never been the same since 9/11. That attack did more to damage America and its trajectory than is easy to describe in a few words. And when it comes to apportioning blame, Trump himself must share the lion’s share of the blame in recent years. His corrupt and ludicrous presidency has brought America’s decline forward. It has also brought it into sharp focus. — © Mark Alexander

Is the US Empire in the Middle of a Long Decline? | The Bottom Line

May 11, 2026 | When the United States threatens to take over countries and destroy civilisations, “these are the wild gesticulations of a sinking enterprise”, argues Richard Wolff, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Massachusetts.

Wolff tells host Steve Clemons that US leaders refuse to face the reality that the US empire is in decline. Around the world, he adds, people are “deeply internalising” the lessons from the US's inability to defeat Iran.

The people in the US are becoming “bitterly angry” at their situation, where the richest 10 percent of Americans own 80 percent of corporate stocks, making the stock market “utterly irrelevant” to the masses.


Trump is a dunce in clown’s clothing! — © Mark Alexander

The US Empire Just Hit a Dangerous Turning Point | Jeffrey Sachs

May 12, 2026

Richard Wolff: Petrodollar Decline Unravels the US Empire

Apr 26, 2026 | Prof. Richard Wolff discusses how the Iran War undermines the petrodollar and the US-led international economic system that has sustained the US empire.

Richard Wolff: Why the US Doesn’t Recognize Its Own Decline…

…this is “Empire overreach”. It is typical of an empire’s decline.

Richard Wolff: Iran War Destroys Global Economy & US Empire

Mar 25, 2026 | Prof Richard Wolff discusses the global consequences of the US war against Iran, which is destroying the Trump presidency, the US Empire, and the global economy.

The Economics of a Dying Empire (w/ Richard Wolff) | The Chris Hedges Report

Apr 9, 2025 | Professor Richard Wolff dissects the erratic and unpredictable nature of the Trump administration's economic policy, and how it signals the decline of American Empire.

The US Is "an Empire in Decline”

Alfred McCoy, an eminent historian, explains.

Historian Alfred McCoy Predicts the US Empire Is Collapsing as China’s Power Grows

Nov 16, 2021 • President Joe Biden’s virtual summit Monday with Chinese President Xi Jinping follows the two countries’ announcement just days earlier they will work together to confront the climate emergency after Xi did not attend the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow. Tension has been mounting between the two superpowers, especially over Taiwan and Hong Kong, with some speculating that a new Cold War is developing. “The United States, in the immediate future, is faced with the possibility of fighting a war over Taiwan … that it would probably lose,” says Alfred McCoy, professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in an extended interview about U.S.-China relations. “China is also working to break the U.S. geopolitical hold over the Eurasian landmass.” McCoy is a prolific author and his newest book is out today: “To Govern the Globe: World Orders and Catastrophic Change.”

‘US🇺🇸 Empire Falling Fast, May Be Unsalvageable’ – Col. Lawrence Wilkerson on Afghanistan, 9/11

Sep 15, 2021 • We speak to Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to US Secretary State Colin Powell. He discusses 9/11 20 years on including the initial reaction to 9/11, how fear and rage drove the Bush Administration’s response to the terror attacks, the military-industrial complex and its desire for endless war which in part fuelled the expansion of NATO, how the US military sabotaged Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and made it look chaotic, how 9/11 can be laid at the feet of Saudi Arabia who he considers the biggest state sponsors of terror, Biden’s executive orders to declassify 9/11 documents and much more!

Pentagon: US Empire is 'Collapsing,' So Give Us More Money

A new Pentagon study says the U.S. may be losing its dominant position in world affairs and that the DoD needs a "wakeup call"--but Col. Lawrence Wilkerson says the report is really about using fear to drum up more money for the military