Why does he refuse to condemn them?

[CJD]

(09-30-2020, 09:41 AM)PhilHos Wrote: He did condemn them and he has before.

https://www.factcheck.org/2020/02/trump-has-condemned-white-supremacists

"I condemn them, but they're not the problem" is not a very strong condemnation.

Like my mama always said, you can go ahead and ignore everything that is said before the but.  Everything before the but is a platitude meant to soften the actual meaning of the sentence, which follows the but.