'Not even a dog whistle anymore': CNN reporter calls out Trump's racist appeals to the suburbs

CNN's Abby Phillip on Friday said President Donald Trump's latest appeal to suburban voters comes straight out of a Nixonian playbook from the 1960s --except, unlike Nixon, Trump isn't even trying to hide its racist implications.

During a discussion about the president's latest Rose Garden press event, host Jim Sciutto noted that Trump is trying to tell suburban voters that regulations intended to expand housing opportunities for minorities will "abolish" their neighborhoods by leading to higher crime and lower property values.

"The president has decided that... he's going to start warning the Joe Biden is going to destroy the suburbs," she said. "But he's gotten so much more explicit than that, saying that these regulations intended to desegregate the suburbs will bring crime and lower property values."

She then explained the historical context of these appeals, which were common in the 1960s and 1970s to argue against measures such as busing to promote school integration.

"But this is 2020," she said. "Do people hear those messages the same way, are these messages that Black and brown people coming into your neighborhood... are they really going to resonate the way he thinks they are? I don't know. The suburbs are becoming more diverse -- who, exactly, is he speaking to with this? And I think it is not even a dog whistle anymore."

Watch the video below.