In the wake of Colin Powell's death of complications from COVID-19, Chris Cillizza penned an op-ed for CNN saying that with the death of the four-star general and 65th United States Secretary of State, his particular brand of Republican no longer exists.
"Powell's personal journey from potential -- and much-coveted -- Republican presidential candidate in the mid-1990s to pariah within the Trump-ified GOP tells the story of how the party went from one that recognized the changing face of America and the need to adapt its policies as a result to one organized around the often-intolerant views of a single man who, it's worth noting, spent less time as a Republican than Powell did," Cillizza writes.
Cillizza points to the fact that during an interview with CNN earlier this year, Powell said he no longer considers himself a Republican.
"You know, I'm not a fellow of anything right now," Powell told CNN's Fareed Zakaria in January. "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."
It was Donald Trump's rise the GOP that was the final straw for Powell, prompting him to vote for Joe Biden in 2020.
"Powell's alienation from the party he chose for himself following a long and highly decorated military career speaks to just how much that party changed underneath him over that time," writes Cillizza. "The idea of a moderate Republican in the mold of Powell simply disappeared from the GOP landscape entirely."
Read the full op-ed over at CNN.
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