Personally I think He has lifted his hand of protection and letting Satan have his way with the U.S. because we turned our backs on Him, were unthankul, spoiled, and allowed materialism to take over and corrupt each generation more than the last until we have arrived at a place where we are so blind we don’t realize how far we’ve fallen. We all know the ending to the story so we’re just going to have to hang in there and try to impact the world in a positive way the best we can.
What I did seriously tell the fellow is the Old Testament shows that God thinks in much longer terms than he did. The Hebrews repeatedly turned their back on God and then would come back to him after multiple decades. If this Nation will come back to him, he’ll come back to us. He is forgiving but he wants to see “good faith” on our part. If not, “who can say...?”