Trump did not comment publicly on the scene until he was asked about it Tuesday by New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet.

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“I just saw that today,” Trump said. “I don't want to energize the group, and I disavow the group,” he added.

Notably, Trump moved much faster to condemn the political commentary of a “Hamilton” actor who on Saturday implored Vice President-elect Mike Pence “to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us.”

Referring to white nationalists, Hughes said on CNN on Wednesday that Trump “does not want to give this group of horrible, hateful people any more attention than . . . the 75 members of the media that showed up at this conference in Washington, D.C., that only had 285 evil people attending it. Seventy-five members of the media showed up to cover this conference, looking — basically salivating over something they could use to incite this racist argument against Mr. Trump.”

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CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota interjected to suggest that the news media was “trying to shine a light on something repugnant.” Hughes countered that ignoring white-nationalist support is a more effective strategy. Trump, she said, is “making it go away by not giving it any attention.”

Moments later, Camerota's co-anchor, Chris Cuomo, put his finger on one of the flaws in Hughes's defense of Trump. “Your argument makes perfect sense,” he said, “if you're talking about someone who has ever done that before” — as in, ever decided that keeping his mouth shut is the best way to prevent something ugly from escalating.

“This man never is subtle,” Cuomo said of Trump. “When he wants to go after something, he calls you out by name, he makes a big deal, and he makes sure everybody knows it. Not on this. Not on this, and you know it.”