Why does he refuse to condemn them?

[hollodero]

(10-14-2020, 11:14 AM)PhilHos Wrote: I'm not misquoting him unless I'm claiming he literally said something he did not. To your 2nd statement, yes, I agree it is my interpretation of what he said, but it's also the most likely because it's the simplest and requires the least amount of "mental gymnastics" to arrive at.

That is a subjective view. I'm not saying you're wrong (because I don't know what Trump thought), and I willingly concede it is not outlandish to hear it the way you hear it. I can't bring myself to claiming you have the only rational take on this. It is not outlandish to hear it like fred heard it either, or like I heard it.
If this were somehow a singular incident, I'd be more inclined to agree with you. But Trump had quite a few of these borderline statements where it takes a friendly listener to see no concern at all.