This is why Hillary Clinton did what she did last Friday night when she spoke of Trump's "Basket of Deplorables." It seems that our media doesn't quite grok the strategy, but we can see it in action right here.
First you say the thing, and you say it on a Friday just before all the surrogates are ready to hit the Sunday shows. Then you wait for the righteous indignation to pour forth, not just from surrogates but the candidate.
And then you release an ad showing the candidate, in his very own words, being "deplorable." At the same time you also publish an explainer on your campaign website about what Pepe the frog represents and remind everyone that NeoNazis use those images, which are distributed by Trump and his surrogates, too.
The trap slams shut.
LATE UPDATE:
The Clinton campaign just released this. The trap is shut and the bait is poison.