Fareed Zakaria, asked Mr. Powell if Republican Party members “realize that in a sense they caused, that they encouraged at least this wildness to grow and grow,” referring to Mr. Trump’s chaotic governance, which culminated in the violence last week.
Mr. Powell, 83 and a longtime Republican Party member, replied, “They did, and that’s why I can no longer call myself a fellow Republican.”
Mr. Powell, a retired four-star general who served in President George W. Bush’s White House and twice endorsed Barack Obama’s successful presidential bids, said he was not looking at recent events through a lens of partisan politics.Mr. Powell said. “I’m just a citizen who has voted Republican, voted Democrat, throughout my entire career, and right now I’m just watching my country and not concerned with parties.”
He added that Republican officials, “should have known better” than to support Mr. Trump, “none of them wanted to put themselves at political risk” by speaking out against him.
“We need people that will speak the truth,” Mr. Powell added.
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