try it this way:
"is Donald Trump a car thief?"
"i don't know. i do know he broke into and drove off in a car that wasn't his. but i'm not in his head enough to know if he thought the car was his, or maybe he disliked the owner."
"is Donald Trump a car thief?"
"i don't know. i do know he broke into and drove off in a car that wasn't his. but i'm not in his head enough to know if he thought the car was his, or maybe he disliked the owner."
the decision to actively promote racism because you derive some personal political benefit from it is, itself, racist; it is a demonstration of the low value you place on the safety and comfort of your targets.
using racism instrumentally or tactically is not morally or practically different from "being racist in your heart," and to insist it only matters if it's a personally-held belief is to profoundly misunderstand why it's bad.
for example, the person who designed this direct mail ad might be personally very nice to his Latino neighbor, but the latter fact doesn't cancel out the former. what's "in your heart" does not outrank what you do. 
