Former United States secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. | John Salangsang/Invision for NFL/AP Images Rice, Albright criticize Trump's executive order

SAN JOSE — Former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice characterized the Trump administration's travel ban as “ill-considered and badly delivered" on Wednesday, joining with one of her predecessors, Madeline Albright, in a rare bipartisan critique of the new president's executive order and the effect it will have on foreign relations.

Rice, who also served as former president George W. Bush’s national security adviser, delivered her first public comments on Trump’s executive order alongside Albright, a Clinton administration appointee, and Recode executive editor Kara Swisher in a conversation before a sold-out audience of 6,500 at the Watermark Conference for Women.


Rice acknowledged that "we do have reasons to control our borders. We do have reasons to vet people ... to make ourselves safer."

But she argued it is contrary to American values to single out immigrants because of religion or national origin, as critics have said Trump’s executive order does.

"Americans are not held together by race, ethnicity, nationality or religion," said Rice. "What holds people together is an aspiration."

“That’s why we are particularly vulnerable as a country,'' she said. "We are not a nationality. We are an idea."

Albright also was sharply critical of the executive order, saying it was the work of an "unprepared” administration that “did not look at the unintended consequences" of the order, creating "terrible problems” around the world.

Albright called the president’s executive order “a gift" to the Islamic State. “They are now using it as a propaganda,’’ Albright said, while "we are having even more problems with countries that are on the designated terror list.’’ She added that the nation faces a credibility problem because of what she called “untrue facts” which the administration has circulated.

"The damage done to America by tweets,'' especially with Mexico, a longtime and valued partner, is deep, Albright said.

Albright also criticized what she suggested has been a lack of judgment and diplomacy evidenced by the administration so far. Turning to Rice, she said: “I can’t imagine you, Condi, storming into the briefing room and saying, 'I’m putting Iran on notice.'" Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, did just that several hours earlier on Wednesday after Iran tested a ballistic missile.

“Patriotism is a very important concept," Albright said. "Nationalism is a very dangerous concept — and hyper-nationalism is very scary.”

Rice, now a professor at Stanford University, said that recent developments have shown that “clearly there are people who feel that they’ve been left out of the progress of the last 70 years of globalization.” The country must address the needs of people who are “feeling depressed and angry,’’ she said, but added that “they were told in the last election, 'it’s the fault of the Chinese, it’s the fault of the Mexicans, it’s the fault of the big banks' … that’s what populism is.”

The nation, she said, needs to “get back to looking for solutions in the development of human potential,’’ with job skills that reflect modern times

“The very best public policy that we have is actually when people come here, and study, and see what it is really like to be in America," Rice said. "Some of our ancestors came in chains, but almost everybody’s relatives came from someplace else,’’ she said. “I believe strongly we still need to advocate for people seeking the freedoms we enjoy.”

Albright, the daughter of Czech refugees, agreed, saying “the diversity of us coming together” is the key.



CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct where Madeline Albright's parents were from.