‘Foreign policy is in shambles’: Colin Powell slams Trump and Republican Party leaders for failing to stand up to the president and tell him when he ‘screws up’
- Powell, a retired four-star general and former Secretary of State and Defense, was speaking with CNN’s Fareed Sakaria when he laid into Trump and the GOP
- He said the Republican Party needs to ‘get a grip on itself’ and call out Trump when the president does something that leaders in both parties agree is wrong
- ‘When they see things that are not right, they need to say something about it because our foreign policy is in shambles right now,’ Powell said
- The 82-year-old said Republicans are paralyzed by fear of Trump and his supporters and the possibility of being unseated via a GOP primary challenge
- Powell reminded the audience that in order for the U.S. to function properly its institutions have roles to play, including the media and the public at large
- ‘All of these pieces are part of our government – executive branch, Congress, Supreme Court and the Fourth Estate,’ he said
Retired four-star General Colin Powell discussed Trump and the current state of Republican politics during an interview that aired on Sunday
One of the most esteemed Republican military advisors in modern-day politics took aim at Donald Trump and his GOP loyalists on Sunday, criticizing party leaders on Sunday for failing to stand up to the President when he makes obvious missteps.
Retired four-star General Colin Powell addressed Trump and the current state of Republican politics during a Tuesday evening Jefferson Series panel discussion on China with fellow former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright that aired Sunday.
CNN’s Fareed Zakaria asked Powell what he thinks the Republican Party’s response to Trump’s actions, which have received bipartisan criticism from both Democrats and more traditional GOP moderates like him.
Powell, who hasn’t said much publicly about Trump since he was elected, said the Republican party needs to ‘get a grip on itself.’
Powell and fellow former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (center) participated in a a Tuesday evening Jefferson Series panel discussion on China moderated by CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that aired Sunday.
Zakaria (right) asked Powell (left) what he thinks about the GOP’s response to Trump’s actions
‘When they see things that are not right, they need to say something about it because our foreign policy is in shambles right now in my humble judgement,’ Powell said in a clip shared widely by Mediaite. ‘And I see things happening that are hard to understand.’
The 82-year-old former Secretary of State under President George W. Bush recalled to Trump’s media fiasco with Hurricane Dorian to make his point, criticizing not only Trump for misrepresenting the facts about the storm hitting southeast Alabama, but also GOP party leaders in Congress and in Trump’s administrations for failing to hold the Commander-in-Chief accountable for his obvious mistakes.
‘And in my time and [Madeleine Albright’s] time, one of us would have gone to the president and said, “Mr. President, you screwed up. So we gotta fix it. And we’ll put out a correction,” Powell said.
Trump arrives at the White House after a visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday
The president insisted that he asked Ukraine’s government to re-open investigations into Joe Biden and his family only out of an interest in fighting corruption while speaking the White House Press Corps on Friday
‘You know what [Republicans] did this time? They ordered the commerce department to go out and back up whatever the president has said. This is not the way the country is supposed to run. And Congress is one of the institutions that should be doing something about this. All parts of Congress.’
Powell reminded the audience and viewers at home that in order for the U.S. to function properly its institutions have roles to play, including the media and the public at large.
‘We gotta remember that all of these pieces are part of our government – executive branch, Congress, Supreme Court and the Fourth Estate,’ he said. ‘We gotta remember what the Constitution started with. It’s “We the People,” not, “We the President.”