POWELL’S POWER: Ex-U.S. Army General Blasts Trump’s Leadership

Retired Army General Colin Powell, son of Jamaican parents who he said came to the United States on “banana boats,” has stepped into the political spotlight, leveling scathing criticism at Donald Trump, calling the U.S. president a liar and chastising him for anti-immigration policies.

New York-born Powell, whose mother Maud Arial and father Luther Theophilus Powell arrived from in the U.S. in the 1920s, accused Trump of conduct dangerous to the U.S.,“drifting away from” America’s constitution, dividing the nation and alienating America’s foreign allies.

In an interview last month with Jake Tapper, on CNN’s “State of the Union”, Powell, reportedly a registered Republican, also said he did not vote for Trump in 2016 and will support his opponent, Democrat Joe Biden, in the November presidential election.

Powell’s blistering reaction followed statements by several senior retired military personnel bashing Trump’s leadership. However, the four-star general’s disapproval came long before the president became embroiled in multiple crises, including the current novel coronavirus pandemic, employment downturn and nationwide anti-racism protests following the brutal death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers, which sparked nationwide public protests.                                                  

PRESSURE

The events have put Trump under increasing political pressure, especially after the president backed a plan to use the U.S. military to stop protesters last month and allowed law enforcement officers to attack protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets so he could get a photo opportunity in Washington, D.C.

Powell first underlined his disapproval for Trump when he launched racist attacks on his predecessor in the White House.

“When I heard some of the things he was saying it made it clear that I could not possibly vote for this individual (in 2016),” Powell explained.

“The first thing that troubled me is the whole birthers movement. The birthers 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 I was deeply troubled by the way he (Trump) was going around insulting everybody. Insulting gold star mothers, insulting (late U.S. Senator) John McCain,insulting immigrants and I’m a son of immigrants. Insulting anybody who dared to speak against him.

“And that is dangerous for our democracy and it’s dangerous for our country.”

BELITTLING

Powell, 83, who served four U.S. presidents in various capacities, including secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Trump has diminished the reputation of the U.S., among its allies and enemies, belittling the nation in the eyes of those observing his actions.

“And so, the world is listening and what are they hearing?” Powell asked Tapper. “They’re hearing this ‘we don’t like immigrants. We don’t want them here. Let’s kick ‘em out’. We’re hearing that we don’t like so many of our ethnic people.”

He also blamed Trump for alienating U.S. allies.

“We have done things that have offended just about everybody in the world,” Powell explained. “Our friends are distraught with us. We are down on NATO. We are heading our troops out of Germany. We’ve done away with our contribution to the World Health Organization. We’re also not happy with the United Nations and just about everywhere you go you’ll find this kind of disdain for American foreign policy that is not in our interest and we have to get on top of this.”

METHODS

Trump’s often authoritarian methods of leadership is not the way a democracy should work, Powell explained, and are not consistent with conduct under the U.S. constitution.

“This is not the way the system is supposed to work and until the president realizes he needs to understand the constitution, understand restraints on him and his authority, and talk openly with his military authorities about what is the right thing to do, and not fire them when he doesn’t get the answer he wants,” Powell said.

Under Trump, Powell explained, “our moral standing has been demonized by not only what the world is thinking, but just looking at us,” especially during the protests over Floyd’s death.

“They’re looking at these demonstrations. They see that these are demonstrations that are justified and not to be criticized,” Powell said. “They see that ‘George’ as the president called him (George Floyd) was murdered, and the president comes out and says well ‘George is looking down from heaven and blessing what I’m doing.’ How can you expect anybody to believe things like that.

“That’s the kind of language we see coming from overseas and the overseas clients that we have, our friends, and some of our adversaries, are looking at how we are taking care of our people. Are we insulting everybody? Are we going after immigrants? They don’t understand this.

“I’m the son of immigrants. I wouldn’t be here if my parents couldn’t come here on banana boats in the 1920s. This is America. This is who we are. I don’t understand.”

CRITICAL

According to Powell, the U.S. has arrived at a critical juncture under Trump’s leadership. The president’s dishonesty and his ability to evade accountability is also worrying.

“We are at turning points,” Powell said. “I mean, the Republican Party, the president, thought they were sort of immune. They’ve done mostly anything they wanted. And, even more troubling, the Congress would just sit there and not, in any way, resist what the president is doing.

“And the one word that I have to use, with respect to what has happened in the last several years, is the word I would never have used before, and never have used with any of the four presidents I’ve worked for, he (Trump) lies. He lies about things. And he gets away with it because people will not hold him accountable.”

Powell said Trump has not been good as the leader of the U.S.

“I think he has not been an effective president,” he said. “He lies all the time. He began lying the day of inauguration … about the size of the crowd that was there.”

RESPONSIBILITY

However, whether or not Trump returns to the White House will be entirely up to the American people, whom Powell believes must not shirk their responsibility.

“Every single American has to sit down, think it through and make a decision on their own,” he said. “Don’t listen to everybody out there. Don’t read every newspaper. Think it through, use your common sense and say ‘Is this good for my country?’ before you say this is good for me.

Powell, who also criticized Trump’s handling of the coronavirus and relations with the “four enemies” of the U.S., China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, found humor in the fact that he received three Electoral College votes in the 2016 presidential elections, good enough to place him behind Trump and runner-up Hillary Clinton, even though he did not campaign for the office.

“That’s true,” Powell told Tapper. “I had to read it in the newspaper and I called my wife. ‘Can this be so?’ … It was amusing.”