The question isn't what he intended to do. It's whether he did something racist. That, and the other things you alluded to, are not racist statements or actions.

I don't know how to read minds. I don't know what he thought. What I can meaningfully comment on is that from a strategic perspective, public disavowals of a particular group (even when it's the Nazis) is often a bad idea. Given that I have seen Trump play a particular strategy where it is very likely that he knows this, it makes sense that he would not opt to disavow any group publicly. I could go more into this strategy if you want (and explain the counterintuitive claim that even disavowing Nazis can easily backfire). Trump didn't do so hot on this when it was public, but it is pretty apparent that he at least knows the game and tries to play according to a strategy that includes not making public disavowals of people/groups when prompted by somebody else.