Former Secretary of State and retired four-star Gen. Colin Powell, who served under three Republican presidents, called Donald Trump “a national disgrace,” an “international pariah” and — surprise, surprise! — a “racist,” according to recent reports at Newsmax and Buzzfeed.

Here’s the thing about Colin Powell. He was a product of the Army’s affirmative action program. He rose to power not primarily because of his abilities, but because of his race. That’s what affirmative action means: To single out people by their race, and then send them to the front of the line because of their race. Yes, they’re also talented and high-achieving for valid reasons, in most cases, but race is still the reason they get moved to the front of the line. At least if we’re honest about it.

Colin Powell was selected by President Ronald Reagan in the late 1980s for his national security team, his first big break. Why? Because Powell showed ability, but also because Reagan’s political team, worried about the Iran-Contra scandal and Reagan’s waning popularity, wanted to make it seem like Reagan was liberal. (Conservatives always think they can appease leftist Democrats, but it will never happen.) Both President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush appointed Powell to high office for similarly political reasons.

I find it interesting that Colin Powell condemns Donald Trump for racism when Powell’s whole career advancement was based on the racism of affirmative action. It’s little wonder he has turned against the Republicans who advanced him all those years ago. You have to wonder if on some level he doesn’t grasp that these Republicans promoted him to make their own party not look racist, rather than anything Colin Powell ever did to especially distinguish himself. If he resents this fact, can you really blame him?

Not surprisingly, Colin Powell is a major fan of affirmative action. Back in 2003, while Secretary of State, he called himself a “strong proponent” of affirmative action, saying that he believed race should play a role in university admissions. “I wish it was possible for everything to be race-neutral in this country, but I’m afraid we’re not yet at that point where things are race-neutral,” Powell told CNN.

It’s the classic rationalization for affirmative action. “Until we can be sure that nobody is racist, we have to grant special privileges or rights to those who are racial minorities.” How will we know when nobody is racist? It’s never specified because, these same proponents of affirmative action tell us, we’re all subconsciously racist whether we know it or not.

There are two types of victims of affirmative action. One are the whites who are qualified to go to the front of the line, but never will because they’re not the politically favored race. The others are the blacks and other racial minorities who do advance because of affirmative action policies, always leaving some doubt as to the real reason for their advancement.

Would Colin Powell have gone as far as he did if he were equally talented, but white rather than black? It’s the question we’re not permitted to ask, because the answer is not convenient.

The really interesting question? If Colin Powell had joined the Democratic Party in the first place, he never would have been in the position of becoming the Republican Party’s token black. In the Democratic Party, where Powell has always belonged, he would have been just another leftist/collectivist/socialist. That’s the great irony: If Colin Powell had been a Democrat, we probably would not even know his name.

I can’t help but wonder if he knows this too, because he’s obviously a smart man. If so, it probably makes him very angry, much angrier than the allegedly racist pariah Donald Trump, or any of the other conservatives and Republicans that Powell so intensely dislikes.