That article doesn’t have the full quote, but even it says he “desparages Mexican immigrants”, not Mexicans in general. He didn’t even disparage immigrants in general. What he said:
When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.
That statement is not racist, that is, it does not attrbute characteristics to people based on their race. His statement implies that there are Mexicans who ARE “their best”, Mexicans whom we would admit through the front door. If you said that he was being hyperbolic about the crime threat from illegal aliens, I’d agree with you. But you said that he called Mexicans rapists. You said that it was a racist statement which would mean that he was characterizing Mexicans as a race. From the plain reading of his words, he simply did not. The fact is that without the ability to control immigration, we simply cannot know who we are getting and can expect, since Mexicans with prospects (those who are “their best”) are not likely to choose the life of an illegal immigrant in the US, that we are indeed not getting Mexico’s best. But Trump does overstate it, while we do get many criminals through illegal immigration, most are in fact “good people” in my estimation. That is what I heard when I heard his words. To be honest with you, I never considered the outrage over Trump’s statement to be sincere.