Powell: Trump Has 'Drifted'

Colin Powell hit State of the Union on Sunday and added his name to the list of ex-military officials criticizing President Trump, CNN reports. The former Republican secretary of state said Trump has "drifted away" from the Constitution in his strongman response to the George Floyd protests: "We have a Constitution," said Powell. "And we have to follow that Constitution. And the President has drifted away from it." Forbes notes that former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Marine Gen. John Kelly, and retired Navy Admiral William McRaven are also taking a dim view of Trump's call for the military to quell protests. Among Powell's other remarks:

• "I watched the senators heading into the chamber the other day after all this broke, with the reporters saying, 'What do you have to say? What do they you to say?' They had nothing to say. They would not react."
• "I think what we're seeing now, is (the most) massive protest movement I have ever seen in my life, I think it suggests the country is getting wise to this and we're not going to put up with it anymore."
• "What we have to do now is reach out to the whole people, watch these demonstrations, watch these protests, and rather than curse them, embrace them to see what it is we have to do to get out of the situation that we find ourselves in now."
• "I'm very close to Joe Biden on a social matter and on a political matter. I worked with him for 35, 40 years, and he is now the candidate and I will be voting for him."

(More Colin Powell stories.)