Victor Cruz

Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz (John Munson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

EAST RUTHERFORD -- Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz sounded off on President-elect Donald Trump and his supporters on Thursday after teammate Nikita Whitlock reportedly was the victim of a racially-motivated crime.

"I think it's definitely a direct reflection of how this country is being run and how this country is reacting maybe to some of the decisions and some of the ways that this country is being run and the things that are being said by the people at helm of this country and at the helm of our day-to-day lives," Cruz said.

"From social media all the way up to the White House, these are things that are being spoken of and talked about on a daily basis, the good and the bad -- more so the bad at this point right now because that's all we have to work with. It's just an unfortunate situation that we're going through right now."

The Moonachie apartment of Whitlock, a fullback out for the season with a foot injury, was scrawled with racial slurs after vandals broke into his home on Tuesday night, according to a CBS New York report. The incident was part of a wave of hate crimes that have swept through the area, police said.

Graffiti on the walls included a swastika and the words "KKK," "Go back to Africa," and "Trump." Cruz thinks the act was a reflection of the mindset associated with the President-elect.

"Absolutely. I think there's a specific mindset that comes with supporting a guy like Donald Trump and supporting what he stands for and there's a certain type of person that comes with that," Cruz said. "I'm not sure that person is always a positive-minded person, if you know what I mean. You've just got to be careful.

"As a minority, you have to be careful, as a person of influence you have to be careful and you've just got to make sure your family is safe and give them the knowledge that they need to stay safe in this world."

Cruz said the incident reinforced his negative view of Trump supporters.

"When you have someone that embodies those mindsets and those opinions and someone else supports those opinions, you can't think of anything positive about that. You can't think of anything that that person that follows Donald Trump that they're going to do something positive," Cruz said.

"And for someone to vandalize someone's house and write Trump's name or whatever they wrote on the walls, it's just proving that exact fact that I'm saying, that people that may follow him aren't necessarily the most positive people in our community."

When it was mentioned to Cruz that his comments would upset some people, he didn't back down.

"That's fine with me," Cruz said. "I'm comfortable with that. I'm comfortable with people's reactions to that. That's my opinion, that's my mindset, that's the way I think, so I'm not upset at anybody else that thinks otherwise."

Cruz, a Paterson native, added that he doesn't associate all Trump supporters with racist viewpoints.

"Obviously, there are people out there that just want change, that just want something different and just want someone with a business acumen at the helm," Cruz said. "And I understand that. And I'm all for change in that regard. But when it comes to using his name to vandalize things and using his names as a positive reinforcement as to why you're doing this, that's where I have the problem."

Dan Duggan may be reached at dduggan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DDuggan21. Find our Giants coverage on Facebook.