Jesse Jackson: Trump’s ‘Dog Whistle’ Rhetoric ‘Has Helped To Seed These Clouds’

On this week’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday,” while discussing the racial discourse in America due to the recent police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota and the shooting of police officers in Dallas, the founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., said presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump’s “dog whistle” rhetoric  has “helped to seed these clouds.”

Partial transcript as follows:

SHANNON BREAM: You have said that you think Donald Trump, at least in part, has contributed to a very divisive mood in this country. You called part of that an anti-black mood. I want to play a little bit of what he said in response to the shootings and events of last few days and then get your reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: A brutal attack on our police force is an attack on our country, and an attack on our families. The deaths of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota also make clear how much more work we have to do to make every American feel that their safety is protected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BREAM: Reverend, what do you make of his remarks?

JACKSON: Well, those significant remarks, but I submit to you that when you do the birther movement on the president, which is a dog whistle for a kind of anti-black, the anti-Mexican, the deportation of 15 million people, of families, the disruption, and anti-Muslim, that kind of rhetoric has helped to seed these clouds.

I hope Mr. Trump will maintain the level of rhetoric that we just now heard.

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