This is the same attempt at plausible deniability of Republican institutional racism since the Nixon Southern Strategy as clearly, undeniably, articulated by its inventor. https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/exclusive-lee-atwa...

Trump peddled a racist lie and conspiracy theory for five years, before he was even in politics. Birtherism. And before that, the Central Park Five. And before that the federal lawsuit against him and his dad for discrimination in housing. It's not plausibly deniable. And this is the same thing.