This was a televised presidential debate. What was he supposed to say? No? As he himself said, he would say anything he needed to say not to be considered openly racist in that situation. So would anybody short of David Duke.

The interesting thing is he didn't say, "I disavow the Proud Boys" or "Proud Boys, whoever you are, white supremacy is wrong" or any of the countless thngs he could have said which would have answered the request and not been interpreted in any other way. He asked them to "stand back and stand by" which sounds, to any impartial observer, like an order being given to a group he is well aware of. You seem to be starting with a desire to believe that he's been misinterpreted and then proceeded from there.

You're absolutely right, lots of people read a headline and don't dig any deeper. But we're not in that situation. We've both listened to words coming straight from a man's mouth, but you're describing the direct quoting of those words as manipulative. How would you amend the headline to add the context you think is missing?