Black feminist author and Rutgers University professor Dr. Brittney Cooper said on MSNBC Sunday that President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are trying to silence black athletes’ police brutality protests in the name of preserving the doctrine of white supremacy.

The moves by members of the executive branch to demonize and punish black athletes who take a knee during the national anthem, Cooper said, are putting the U.S. “on the path to fascism.”

Regarding Pence’s staged protest at an Indianapolis Colts game, Cooper said, was essentially “two white men in the name of white supremacy and white nationalism closing ranks.”

“They keep on mischaracterizing the protests,” she said. “Our flag and our constitution stand for the right of citizens to protest when they’re being led by oppressive governments. That is how the Americas were created, as form of dissent against the British government and citizens in this country who are vulnerable have the right to take the knee. What is even more appalling is that the president won’t stand up against white supremacists because as Jemele Hill said many weeks ago he’s a white supremacist himself.”

“I think we should simply say that. I think his record of rhetoric and policy bears that out,” she said. “When the president does not defend the right of all citizens to express their views in whatever form they have, then what we are on is the path to fascism and everyone should be enraged. I certainly am.”

Watch the video, embedded below: