In November 1993, with President Bill Clinton in the White House, former president Ronald Reagan gazed into the Republican Party’s future and saw Colin Powell. In 2021, with former president Donald Trump eyeing a run for reelection, Reagan’s party mostly no longer exists.
At his presidential library in Simi Valley, Calif., Reagan bestowed an award on the Army general and declared: “I know I shouldn’t say this, but I have a confession to make. I just might have had an ulterior motive for inviting Colin Powell up here today to my presidential library.”
“You see, I am hoping that perhaps one day he’ll return the favor and invite me to his,” Reagan said, to laughter and applause from the crowd — and a chuckle from the guest of honor, seated on the stage next to the podium.
Though some 1995 polls showed Powell ahead of Clinton, the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff opted not to run, saying he lacked the “passion and commitment” required (there was also the little matter of his wife Alma fearing for his safety).
Powell declared himself a Republican and later became President George W. Bush’s secretary of state. But he went on to endorse Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020 and was sometimes diagnosed inside the GOP as a RINO — Republican in Name Only.
Still, in 2014, when prodded about his party affiliation, Powell told MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports”: “I’m still a Republican, and I think the Republican Party needs me more than the Democratic Party needs me.”
Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) paid tribute to a life “as historic as it was extraordinary,” Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said Powell “always put his country first,” and former vice president Mike Pence called the late general “a true American patriot.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) ordered flags flown at half-staff to honor “a trailblazing soldier, leader, and public servant.” South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) also followed President Biden’s proclamation that flags would fly at half-staff through Friday, but does not appear to have issued a more expansive statement. Former governor Chris Christie (R-N.J.) called Powell “an outstanding public servant & great American.”
But Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) does not appear to have commented. And former ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley hadn’t weighed in as of this writing..
Trump himself issued a statement Tuesday morning attacking Powell
“Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media. Hope that happens to me someday. He was a classic RINO, if even that, always being the first to attack other Republicans. He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace!”
In a June 2020 CNN interview, Powell had called Trump a chronic liar who had “drifted away” from the Constitution after the former president threatened to use active duty military on protesters. Powell also said he’d be voting for Biden.
At the time, Trump tweeted that Powell was “a real stiff who was very responsible for getting us into the disastrous Middle East wars.”
He later followed up by mocking Powell’s “pathetic interview,” called him “weak” and zeroed in on the former general’s early 2003 speech to the United Nations to justify the invasion of Iraq, citing sketchy and later discredited claims the country had weapons of mass destruction.
On CNN, host Fareed Zakaria asked Powell if Republican leaders “realize in a sense they caused, that they encouraged at least this wildness to grow and grow,” leading to the riot.
“They did,” Powell responded. “And that’s why I can no longer call myself a fellow Republican.”
But the Republican Party Powell had once promised to “move once again close to the spirit of Lincoln” had already started to move away from him, perhaps as early as 1992.
In my colleague Karen Tumulty’s acclaimed biography of Nancy Reagan, she noted how the former first lady had only reluctantly agreed to speak on her husband’s behalf at the 1996 GOP convention, worried the party had taken a “dark turn” years earlier and that the gathering would be as “venomous” as the one in Houston in 1992.
“Maybe if Colin Powell runs …” Nancy Reagan mused.
At his presidential library in Simi Valley, Calif., Reagan bestowed an award on the Army general and declared: “I know I shouldn’t say this, but I have a confession to make. I just might have had an ulterior motive for inviting Colin Powell up here today to my presidential library.”
“You see, I am hoping that perhaps one day he’ll return the favor and invite me to his,” Reagan said, to laughter and applause from the crowd — and a chuckle from the guest of honor, seated on the stage next to the podium.
Though some 1995 polls showed Powell ahead of Clinton, the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff opted not to run, saying he lacked the “passion and commitment” required (there was also the little matter of his wife Alma fearing for his safety).
Powell declared himself a Republican and later became President George W. Bush’s secretary of state. But he went on to endorse Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020 and was sometimes diagnosed inside the GOP as a RINO — Republican in Name Only.
Still, in 2014, when prodded about his party affiliation, Powell told MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports”: “I’m still a Republican, and I think the Republican Party needs me more than the Democratic Party needs me.”
Reaction from potential 2024 candidates
It’s a generation later, but one measure hints at how much the Republican Party Powell might have led has changed: the number of potential candidates for the 2024 GOP nomination who stayed quiet Monday as tributes poured in from across the political spectrum.Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) paid tribute to a life “as historic as it was extraordinary,” Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said Powell “always put his country first,” and former vice president Mike Pence called the late general “a true American patriot.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) ordered flags flown at half-staff to honor “a trailblazing soldier, leader, and public servant.” South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) also followed President Biden’s proclamation that flags would fly at half-staff through Friday, but does not appear to have issued a more expansive statement. Former governor Chris Christie (R-N.J.) called Powell “an outstanding public servant & great American.”
But Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) does not appear to have commented. And former ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley hadn’t weighed in as of this writing..
Trump himself issued a statement Tuesday morning attacking Powell
“Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media. Hope that happens to me someday. He was a classic RINO, if even that, always being the first to attack other Republicans. He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace!”
In a June 2020 CNN interview, Powell had called Trump a chronic liar who had “drifted away” from the Constitution after the former president threatened to use active duty military on protesters. Powell also said he’d be voting for Biden.
At the time, Trump tweeted that Powell was “a real stiff who was very responsible for getting us into the disastrous Middle East wars.”
He later followed up by mocking Powell’s “pathetic interview,” called him “weak” and zeroed in on the former general’s early 2003 speech to the United Nations to justify the invasion of Iraq, citing sketchy and later discredited claims the country had weapons of mass destruction.
Final break with the GOP
Powell’s final public break with the GOP came after the Jan. 6 insurrection, in which hundreds of Trump supporters stormed and ransacked the Capitol, beating Capitol Police and interrupting the certification of Biden’s election victory.On CNN, host Fareed Zakaria asked Powell if Republican leaders “realize in a sense they caused, that they encouraged at least this wildness to grow and grow,” leading to the riot.
“They did,” Powell responded. “And that’s why I can no longer call myself a fellow Republican.”
But the Republican Party Powell had once promised to “move once again close to the spirit of Lincoln” had already started to move away from him, perhaps as early as 1992.
In my colleague Karen Tumulty’s acclaimed biography of Nancy Reagan, she noted how the former first lady had only reluctantly agreed to speak on her husband’s behalf at the 1996 GOP convention, worried the party had taken a “dark turn” years earlier and that the gathering would be as “venomous” as the one in Houston in 1992.
“Maybe if Colin Powell runs …” Nancy Reagan mused.
