[cryptica]

>> He explicitly reused a racist phrase to suggest the black protesters should be shot down.

He said "When the looting starts, the shooting starts". This is obviously not a serious, literal statement and it doesn't even say who would be doing the shooting - Merely that the situation could escalate into shooting. Also, I don't see any trace of racism in that sentence.

If this statement leads to a reduction of actual on-the-ground violence, then this is a net positive and is why freedom of speech is important.

Talking about violence is much better than actually carrying out violence. Trump is likely one of the least violent presidents when you actually count the injured and the dead. Yet he has repeatedly made all sorts of verbal threats in the past... None of which he actually implemented.