In a sit-down interview with NBC’s Sheinelle Jones that aired Thursday morning, Condoleezza Rice dismissed the argument that race relations are “worse now” under the Trump administration than they were prior.
Jones said, “There are people who will say it feels worse now when we’re talking about race, or it just feels like a divisive environment.”
Rice dismissed the notion right away, “Look, it sure doesn’t feel worse than when I grew up in Jim Crow Alabama, OK? So, let’s drop this notion that we’re worse race relations today than we were in the past. Really? That means we’ve made no progress, really? And so, I think the hyperbole about how much worse it is isn’t doing us any good. This country is never going to be colorblind. We had the initial original sin of slavery.”
Jones responded, “So for people who say, you know what, it’s top down, it starts with the president, it starts with the words that he speaks.”
Rice replied, “Oh, come on, alright. I would be the first to say we need to watch our language about race — we need to watch we don’t use dog whistles. But when we start saying, ‘Oh, you know, it’s worse today,’ no, they’re not.”
According to Fox News,
Earlier in the interview, Jones brought up President Trump’s recent comment about listening to foreign entities if they had dirt on political opponents.
“Critics have suggested that he’s almost put a for-sale sign on the upcoming election,” Jones said. “Do you worry that he’s done that?”
Rice fired back, “Let’s not overstate this, alright? People say things, the president has a tendency to want to say provocative things,” before noting that there are laws in place for the hypothetical situation.
So obviously NBC was looking for a chance to just take a jab at President Trump, but it didn’t work. Condoleezza Rice is far too smart to fall for such a silly game.