Wednesday on MSNBC, Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) said presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s claim of being “the law and order candidate” was a “dog whistle” to white supremacists.

Clyburn said, “Mr. Trump needs to get serious about this issue and stop making light of it. No system is rigged against him because of his skin color. That’s what race is all about. We must be serious about that, have a conversation with each other about that and see what we can do to solve this problem. And not hide behind what may or may not have happened to you as a person because of some ordinances affecting your investments or how much taxes you pay, if at all.”

He added, “When I heard Mr. Trump several days ago saying that, ‘I am the law and order candidate,’ that, to me, was more a dog whistle. That, to me, was using the bull horn to send messages out to people. When I see an avowed white supremacist thanking Mr. Trump saying in those things, ‘We get your hints, we understand what you’re saying.’ This says to me that there’s a lot going on in this campaign that we had better be conscious about because this country is too great a country for us to allow it to be pulled under with this strong current of what may be racial tensions. So I would say to Mr. Trump, let’s have adult discussions about this very serious problem and not make it about any one of ourselves.”

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