Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says race relations in America have not gotten "worse" under President Donald Trump — calling such criticism "hyperbole."
In an interview aired Thursday on NBC's "Today" show, NBC News' Sheinelle Jones told Rice "there are people who will say it feels worse now when we're talking about race" and there is a "divisive environment" in America.
Rice's comments begin at the 3:26-minute mark.
"It sure doesn't feel worse than when I grew up in Jim Crow Alabama," Rice responded. "So let's drop this notion that we're worse race relations today than we were in the past. Really? That means we made no progress. Really?"
"I think the hyperbole about how much worse it is isn't doing us any good," Rice continued. "This country's never going to be colorblind. We had the initial original sin of slavery. It's still with us."
She also dismissed the notion a biased tone comes from the White House.
"Oh, come on, all right?" Rice said. "I would be the first to say we need to watch our language about race. We need to watch that we don't use dog whistles to people . . . but when we start saying, 'Oh, you know, it's worse today,' no, they're not."
Earlier in the interview, Jones brought up President Donald Trump's recent comment about listening to foreign entities if they had dirt on political opponents.
Rice's response comes at the 45-second mark.
"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?"
"Let's not overstate this, all right?" Rice said. "People say things, the president has a tendency to want to say provocative things," before noting there are laws in place for the hypothetical situation.
"The factor the matter is we have laws about this issue," she said.
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