White nationalists have been captured on video raising their hands in a Nazi salute while shouting “Hail Trump.” Hate crimes have surged across the country — the Southern Poverty Law Center gathered reports of 867 in just the 10 days after the election. Yet, unlike his predecessors, our president-elect has been mostly silent in condemning the hate talk and violence being done in his name.

In an interview with this paper, Donald J. Trump said that the alt-right is “not a group I want to energize, and if they are energized I want to look into it and find out why,” seemingly unable to fathom that the reason they are “energized” is because of him and the thing he needs to “look into” are his own words.

When asked by “60 Minutes” whether he had anything to say about the reports of racial slurs and threats by his supporters against African-Americans, Latinos and gays, he replied, “Stop it.” He might as well have preceded that with, “O.K., fine … if I have to.”

Mr. Trump’s supporters and staff say he has disavowed and condemned these acts and organizations and that should be the end of it. But to many of us, this isn’t enough. It feels disingenuous and forced because we all know that when Mr. Trump has something he really wants to say, he does one thing and one thing only: He spews forth on Twitter.