It seems like a weird balance to try and strike. They know he’s popular with a big chunk, it’s also known that he’s full of vile rhetoric that ‘should’ be easily taken as contemptible and have him sent straight to the shitcan.

In normal past time it might have done just that, but these days it seems just as likely people put it together as “he’s popular and says terrible things, therefore it means it’s ok to say terrible things” rather than this guy should be reviled for saying terrible things.