Colin Powell, who served as the Secretary of State under President George W. Bush, recently announced that he would not be supporting President Donald Trump in the upcoming 2020 Presidential Election. Instead, Powell related that he will vote for the Democratic nominee for the presidency, former Vice President Joe Biden. According to CBS News, Powell said that the president “has drifted away” from the Constitution and that he “lies all the time,” which is why he will not be voting for him in November.
On Sunday, Powell appeared on CNN’s State of the Union to discuss issues plaguing the U.S., particularly the coronavirus crisis and the widespread protests calling for justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and the many other African American citizens who have been affected by racism and police brutality. During his appearance, the former Secretary of State said, “I certainly cannot, in any way, support President Trump this year. 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.” Just like Powell shared, Biden is now the official Democratic nominee for the presidency. Late Friday night, Biden captured the necessary 1,991 delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination for president following the primaries that took place on Tuesday.
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Of course, the topic at hand on State of the Union was still tied to Trump. In the program, Powell continued to express why he would not be supporting the president in his re-election campaign. He specifically criticized Trump’s response to the protests. Trump has not only threatened violence against citizens on Twitter by writing that when the “looting starts, the shooting starts,” he also threatened to utilize the military to break up any demonstrations if governors are not able to keep them under control.
“The Republican Party, the president, thought they were sort of immune — they could go say anything they wanted. And even more troubling, the Congress would just sit there, and not in any way resist what the president’s doing,” Powell said. “And the one word I have to use with respect to what he’s been doing for the last several years — it’s a word I would never have used before, I never would have used with any of the four presidents I’ve worked for — he lies. He lies about things. And he gets away with it because people will not hold him accountable.” When asked to explain why he opposes Trump, Powell added that he “has not been an effective president.”
