“My favorite three words in our Constitution are the first three words: ‘We the People,’” Powell said on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS on Sunday. “But recently, it’s become ‘Me the President’ as opposed to ‘We the People.’ And you see things that should not be happening.”
Powell expressed doubt that the president could be a “moral leader for the world,” noting, “right now that is not the way he is acting.”
“How can a president of the United States get up and say that the media is the enemy of Americans? Hasn’t he read the First Amendment? You’re not supposed to like everything the press says or what anyone says in the First Amendment, that’s why we have a First Amendment, to protect that kind of speech,” Powell added.
That being said, he did call out the president for his own language and “insulting everybody,” including other world leaders, Black Americans, women and immigrants.
“I don’t think that’s what should be coming out of the President of the United States,” he said, adding that he hopes Trump can stop insulting people.
Powell also had time to dive deeper in to the president’s controversial immigration policies, warning, “The world is watching,” as America separates immigrant families trying to cross the border.
“They can’t believe that we’re making such an effort to cease immigration coming into the country. It’s what’s kept us alive,” he said. “How can we be walking away from this model?”