President Donald Trump is failing to consolidate the kind of support that is necessary for him to secure re-election this November. His failure to respond effectively to either the Coronavirus pandemic or the recent days of nationwide anti-police brutality protests is not helping his case that he deserves re-election in the first place. Throughout recent days, an array of retired top officials in the military have condemned Trump’s response to those recent protests, which he’s suggested should be confronted with active-duty troops. During an appearance on CNN this Sunday morning, retired General Colin Powell added his own criticism of Trump and explained to host Jake Tapper that he would not be voting for Trump this November.
George W. Bush won't support the re-election of Trump.
Mitt Romney won't back Trump.
Cindy McCain is almost certain to support Biden but is unsure how public to be about it. https://t.co/GHnLSJBsje
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 7, 2020
Powell’s criticism for Trump was wide-ranging, and his appearance on CNN followed a report from The New York Times that claimed that former President George W. Bush, who had Powell as a national security adviser, would not be supporting Trump in the 2020 election either.
NEWS: @jmartNYT says former President George W. Bush will not support the reelection of @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/cijF4M7nAV #tx2020
— Evan Smith (@evanasmith) June 7, 2020
Asked if he thought the U.S. was at a “turning point,” Powell told Jake Tapper:
‘We are at a turning point. I mean the Republican Party and the president thought they were sort of immune, that they could go say anything they wanted, and even more troubling, the Congress would just sit there, and not in any resist what the president’s doing… He lies. He lies about things, and he gets away with it because people would not hold him accountable. And so while we’re watching him, we need to watch Congress… we have the people of the United States: the ones who vote. The ones who vote him in, and the ones who vote him out. I couldn’t vote for him in ’96, and I certainly can not in any way support President Trump this year.’
Powell noted that he would not condemn any of the four presidents with whom he’s worked in the same way that he is condemning Trump. He said that he would not claim that any of the rest of them actively lied to the American people, but Trump clearly has.
Thus, he said, he’d not be voting for Trump this fall. Asked if he’d be voting for Joe Biden, he explained:
‘I’m very close to Joe Biden on a social matter and on a political matter. I’ve worked with him for 35, 40 years, and he is now the candidate, and I will be voting for him.’
Watch below:
Here's Colin Powell telling Jake Tapper that he'll be voting for Joe Biden pic.twitter.com/1D02zX81kO
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 7, 2020
During his remarks, Powell pointed out that numerous Republican Senators were recently caught on tape refusing to say much of anything at all in response to the Trump team’s recent attack on peaceful protesters who had gathered outside the White House and who the president doesn’t like and whose grievances he refuses to consider.
BACK ON THE HILL: @kasie asks Republican Senators about how peaceful protests were dispersed last night in Washington pic.twitter.com/KL4V6L2Vfb
— Kasie DC (@KasieDC) June 3, 2020
In contrast, others who have recently spoken out against the president include retired Marine Corps General James Mattis, who served as the Trump administration’s Defense Secretary at one point. Now, Mattis has condemned Trump as a threat to Constitutional order in the United States.
