The author’s opening premise is total BS and his attempts at nuance in the Q&A don’t enhance his resume as a political writer, either. The MSM were going to take Trump to task no matter what he tweeted or released in a formal statement. Nothing would have satisfied that mob and that needs to be a central operating principle.
The opening premise is BS for the multiple reasons already noted by other posters. Attempting to be out front in leading the charge in every instance before full information is developed will quite often lead to backtracking and the media mob would be just as glad to take Trump down with that as anything else. “Ideology” did not kill Heather Heyer, a specific person behind the wheel of a vehicle did that and information is developing that mental capacity is at issue.
It seems to me that Obama did that routinely. No matter what happened, he was quick to blame "racism", and it worked out well for him: he set back the cause of peaceful coexistence between people of different races for decades. And we are seeing the fruits of that long labor in events like what happened in Charlottesville.