He knew they were worse than stupid. At one rally, more towards the end of the campaign, he said something like “They’re stupid, or worse”, paraphrasing. Actually IIRC he said that more than once, I watched a lot of his rallies but not all for sure.
No. You’re absolutely right. Candidate Trump often, if not always added disclaimers to his statements. like “repeal and replace” “stupid or something else”. Observant people understand that ‘something else’ means nefarious and self serving interests. .