Earlier this year, just after the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill insurrection, former Secretary of State Colin Powell boldly told Today anchor Savannah Guthrie that Trump should resign from office. "What [Trump} is responsible for is one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen in all my years as a government employee here in the United States of America and in Washington, D.C.,” declared Powell at the time. A few days later, Powell announced in January that he no longer considered himself a Republican, faulting the GOP for its support and enabling of Donald Trump even after the insurrection. The break with the party, which came 25 years after Powell had first publicly declared his Republican affiliation, was in some ways a shocking turn of events. In other ways, however, it was the logical conclusion of Powell’s public role in the years since he left political office, and the result of a growing gulf between moderate Republicans like Powell and the party that has drifted to the right...
