- Says President Has Drifted From Constitution
- Trump Fires Back, Calls Powell ‘Another Stiff’ Like ‘Sleepy Joe Biden’
By Kolawole Ojebisi
Former US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, has said he won’t vote for President Donald Trump in the forthcoming election in the US.
He disclosed this in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on CNN.
Powell who did not vote for Trump in 2016 despite being a longtime Republican stated that he didn’t like Trump in 2016 and dislikes him even more now.
Speaking with the “State of the Union” host, Powell ascribed his opposition to Trump in 2016 to the president’s penchant for insults and racist remarks.
“When I heard some of the things he was saying, he made it clear to me I could not vote for this individual,” Powell recalled.
The retired general added that Trump undisguised contempt for contrary views is troubling
“The first thing that troubled me is the whole birther movement. The birther’s movement had to do with the fact that the president of the united states, President Obama, was a black man. that was part of it. And then I was deeply troubled by the way in which he was going around insulting everybody — insulting Gold Star mothers, insulting John McCain, insulting immigrants and I’m a son of immigrants. Insulting anybody who dared to speak against him.
“That is dangerous for our democracy, it is dangerous for our country, and I think what we’re seeing now, those massive protest movements I have ever seen in my life. I think this suggests the country is getting wise to this and we’re not going to put up with it anymore,” he said before calling the president “a liar.”
Also reacting to Trump’s handling of flood of protests against racism, triggered by the death of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, the war hero noted that Trump had drifted away from the constitution.
“We have a Constitution. And we have to follow that Constitution. And the president has drifted away from it,” said Powell
Later in the interview he was asked if he would support Biden’s presidential, bid, he answered in the affirmative before adding he would be casting his vote for the former vice president.
“I’m very close to Joe Biden in a social matter and on a political matter. I have worked with him for 35, 40 years. And he is now the candidate, and I will be voting for him,” Powell said.
President Trump, however, has fired back a barbed response to Powell. He called the retired general “overrated” and a “stiff” who helped get the US into the war in Iraq.
“Collin Powell, a real stiff who was very responsible for getting us into the disastrous Middle-East wars, just tweeted he will be voting for another stiff, sleepy Joe Biden.” Trump tweeted.
Powell’s avowed support for Joe Biden has increased the list of high-profile Republicans, including George W. Bush and Mitt Romney, who are not voting for Donald Trump in November.
