He’s naturally claiming it was a joke.

Somehow all these totally-not-Nazis in our government keep making a lot of “jokes” about being Nazis, killing foreigners, sterilizing Africans, etc. etc.

At least in the Olden Times of actual Nazis they were honest about what they stood for. The current breed always starts claiming they were joking or their quotes were taken out of context when asked about their hideous opinions.