Colin Powell: Trump is supporting 'another country' with dog whistles to the Confederacy

Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell on Sunday revealed that he supports the renaming of bases that honor Confederate generals.

During an interview on CBS, host Margaret Brennan asked Powell if the country is too divided to address systemic racism.

"We're a much better nation now," Powell explained. "We're living better than we did then. But there's more to be done. There are more youngsters that have to be educated, there are more adults that have to be educated. We have to fix the economic system."

Brennan pointed out that Gen. Mark Miley, the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has recently expressed support for renaming military bases that honor Confederate officers.

"I would rename the bases," Powell agreed. "We really hadn't thought about it a few years ago. But now with Black Lives Matter and all the issues that are before us, I think it is a good idea to rename the 10 bases in the United States Army that are named after Confederates."

"You know, I never really thought about it," he added. "I fully support Gen. Milley is doing. I hope he doesn't get any difficulty with the rest of the administration. This is something we should do. And we should do it as quickly as we can."

Powell said that he also agrees with a decision to ban Confederate symbols on military bases.

"The Conferate flag is now an explicit demonstration of another time, another place, another country that had nothing to do with the United States of America," Powell explained. "It was Confederate states of America. They were not part of us. And this is not the time to keep demonstrating who they were and what they were back then."

"This is a time to move on," he insisted. "We have one flag and one flag only. And that's the flag we should all support."

President Donald Trump has expressed support for people who fly the Confederate flag and suggested that he will veto legislation to rename military bases.

Watch the video below from CBS.