Colin Powell says he's still a Republican because it 'annoys them'

For those who are curious, Colin Powell hasn't changed his party affiliation, despite disagreements with the Republican Party's increasingly powerful right wing. "Yes, I'm still a Republican," he said Wednesday at the Washington Ideas Forum. "I want to continue to be a Republican because it annoys them."

The former secretary of state may have been speaking in jest, but he's serious about the changes that have taken place inside the Republican Party. "I think the party has shifted much further right than where the country is, and it should be obvious to party leaders that they cannot keep saying and doing the things that they were doing and hope to be successful in national-level elections in the future, not just in 2016," he said.

One sensitive topic is immigration, and Powell said anti-immigrant rhetoric will do more harm than good. "I think most Republicans understand that we need immigration, we are an immigrant nation, [and that] it is in our best interest to do it," he said. "But there are pockets of intolerance within the Republican Party [and] the Republican Party had better figure out how to defeat that." He said he doesn't think Donald Trump, who has said he would deport every undocumented immigrant in the U.S. if elected president, represents the Republican position on immigration. Powell said he knows Trump "rather well," and if he were around him would say, "You know, Don, let's see what happens — let's tell all the immigrants working in Trump hotels to stay home tomorrow. Let's see what happens."

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