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Ex-Generals Come Out Against Trump for Plan to Militarize U.S.

  • Powell, the latest, says Trump has ‘drifted’ from Constitution
  • Focus on racism spotlights diverse ranks of today’s military
U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Colin Powell in Washington, D.C., U.S., in 2019. 

U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Colin Powell in Washington, D.C., U.S., in 2019. 

Photographer: Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg

Colin Powell became the latest retired U.S. military leader to speak out against Donald Trump, saying the president “drifted away” from the Constitution in weighing a plan to have active-duty military members patrol the nation’s streets.

“We have a Constitution, and we have to follow the Constitution, and the president has drifted away from it,” said Powell, a retired Army general and President George W. Bush’s first secretary of State.