As another commenter said, "perceived to be" is the key phrase.

This administrations rhetoric is bombastic and often times xenophobic. That rhetoric creates a different perception and generates mistrust.

Imagine you had two co-workers. One was incredibly clumsy, and constantly, accidentally, stepped on people's foot. They always apologized, and generally tried to make it right, but every day, someone's foot was stepped on.

Another co-worker walks around talking about how they're going to punch every one in the face. They punch a lot of people in the face, more often than not people who don't deserve it.

By the numbers, the first co-worker is harming far more people.

But the second one is the guy who gets fired.