No, his response was terrific, good leadership, presidential, calm the violence.
Your conclusion "weasely equivocation" was JUST from newsie GOSSIP, JUST as I wrote. It was just GOSSIP. You've been had.
Why? The newsies wanted Trump to accept their dictation of what should be in his speech. Then (1) Trump looks like an obedient puppy of the newsies, can't even write his own speech, and loses respect. The 90% Democrat newsies want that. (2) Trump attacks specific groups and people and, thus, starts fights and even incites violence against those groups. He divides the country more, raises tensions, and very likely gets more people killed. THEN the newsies get to blame Trump for that.
The newsies have you by the nose. You've been manipulated.
In his first speech, Trump did exactly the right things.
Then the newsies came with their game card that he didn't denounce specific groups, people, didn't denounce them fast enough, didn't denounce them strongly enough. To calm the violence, he should not be attacking specific groups and, thus, further dividing the country and giving some people more reason to be violent.
Trump was correct: The newsies will never be satisfied. Why? If people are satisfied, then the newsies lose headlines, eyeballs, and revenue. And the 90% Democrat newsies lose an opportunity to attack their enemy Trump.
Bluntly the newsies want violence, dead people, and then get headlines, blame Trump, etc.
You have been had by the newsies. It's dangerous.
You need to be a responsible citizen and quit letting the blood thirsty newsies lead you around by the nose and help them incite violence and get people killed.