Colin Powell endorses Biden
Romney joins George Floyd protest near White House
WASHINGTON (Reuters and USA Today)– Former secretary of state Colin Powell on Sunday endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, joining a growing chorus of Republicans and military leaders criticizing Republican President Donald Trump amid nationwide protests.
Powell, a Republican who led the US military during the 1991 Gulf War in Iraq under president George H.W. Bush and later headed the State Department under president George W. Bush, said Trump “lies all the time,” has “drifted away” from the US Constitution and poses a danger to American democracy.
“I cannot in any way support President Trump this year,” Powell, who did not vote for the Republican president in 2016, told CNN. Trump responded by calling Powell a “real stiff” on Twitter.
The criticism comes as the nation faces a trio of crises: widespread protests over police violence against black men and women, the coronavirus pandemic and a sharp economic downturn. It is rare for Republicans to criticize Trump directly, and more so for members of the military establishment, who typically stay out of politics.
Trump’s former defense secretary, retired Gen. Jim Mattis, last week denounced what he called Trump’s “deliberate” efforts to divide the country.
Former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairmen Michael Mullen and Martin Dempsey have also criticized Trump’s handling of the unrest.
Meanwhile Utah Sen. Mitt Romney joined a group of protesters Sunday near the White House, becoming the latest politician to rally in the wake of the death of George Floyd and one of the most prominent Republicans.
While marching, Romney told an NBC reporter, “We need a voice against racism. We need many voices against racism and against brutality. We need to stand up and say that black lives matter.”
The former Republican presidential candidate reiterated those comments to a Washington Post reporter. He also tweeted two pictures of himself, wearing a mask, at the protest. One shows him walking with the protesters. The other is a selfie. The photos are captioned, “Black Lives Matter.”
NBC and The Washington Post reported the protest Romney joined was a march of nearly a thousand Christians near the White House.
Other lawmakers, including Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren, have also recently joined protests against racial inequality and police brutality following the death of Floyd on Memorial Day in Minneapolis.
While Romney is not the first Republican to join a protest – Texas Rep. Will Hurd, for example, marched in Houston on Tuesday – his participation garnered immediate praise from Democrats.