Donald Trump said Thursday "a lack of spirit" and "unity" is fanning the flames of animosity tension between black and white Americans.

"It just seems that there's a lack of spirit between the white and the black," Trump said in a phone interview on Fox News' "Fox and Friends" program. "What’s going on between police and others is getting worse."

Trump was referring to the rioting in Charlotte over the past two days following the deadly police shooting of a black man.

He continued to call for for law and order in the nation's cities and for a return to "stop and frisk" practices, particularly in Chicago, where shooting deaths have spiraled in the last year. However, the Republican backed away from the idea that such police tactics should be used everywhere.

Trump said he "was really referring to Chicago"” when he called Wednesday for wider use of stop-and-frisk.

"It's very divided, our country, and it's getting worse," Trump said in the telephone interview.

Trump said his message to the Charlotte rioters would be that there needs to be "law and order, and at the same time, you have to have a certain spirit and unity. There's no unity.

"You look at the level of hatred, the rocks being thrown and everything happening. It's so sad to say. You know this is the united States of America, it's so sad to see."

Trump met with African-American community leaders in Cleveland on Wednesday, and called the results "beautiful."

The meeting will air on Fox News' "Hannity" program Thursday night, as it was pre-empted on Wednesday, but Trump noted there was a "tremendous group" and "great love in that room."

"There was a very feeling in that room, something [that] can happen with the right leadership," Trump said.

Meanwhile, Trump was criticized after the meeting because he said it may be time to return stop and frisk to the nation's communities, pointing to New York City's lower crime rates under Police Chief Ray Kelly.

"New York was not a Chicago situation, but it was really in trouble," said Trump. "With all the shootings and everything, Rudy Giuliani did a great job, and Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg, they stopped it. Stop and frisk worked."

He said that when he referred to stop and frisk on Wednesday, he was talking about Chicago.

"They had 3,000 [shootings] from January 1," said Trump. "You can't let the system go the way it's going but I suggested stop and frisk and some people think it's a great idea and some people don't like it, but when you have 3,000 people shot and so many people dying, it's worse than some of the places we're hearing about like Afghanistan, you know, the war-torn nations."

In New York, the numbers were "unbelievably changed" when police would stop people who they suspected of carrying weapons, he continued, and "not just by a little bit."

"It was massively changed," said Trump. "It became a safe city, from an unsafe city to a safe city."