Paul Ryan: Both left and right playing ‘identity politics’

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Friday lamented what he views as the increasing role of identity politics in the U.S., saying it is dangerous for the country.

“I think identity politics has gotten out of control in our country,” Ryan said during an appearance on “CBS This Morning.”

“I think identity politics is being played on the left and on the right and I think it’s really dangerous for our country,” he continued. “That is how you disunify a culture, a society and a country.”

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Ryan’s comments came after former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama condemned the current state of U.S. politics on Thursday, in what many perceived to be thinly-veiled swipes at President Trump.

Bush lamented the “sharpened partisan conflicts” and said “our politics seem more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication.”

He also warned at a forum in New York City that “bigotry seems emboldened” and that it is time for Americans to reject “white supremacy.”

Obama, while campaigning for a Democratic candidate in New Jersey, said that U.S. politics had appeared to have taken a step back.

“Some of the politics we see now, we thought we had put that to bed,” he said. “That’s folks looking 50 years back. It’s the 21st century, not the 19th century.”

The White House insisted on Friday the two former presidents were not referring to Trump. 

“Our understanding is that those comments were not directed towards the president and, in fact, when these two individuals, both past presidents, have criticized the president, they’ve done so by name and very rarely do it without being pretty direct, as both of them tend to be,” press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

“So we will take them at their word that these actions and comments were not directed at the president.”