This was an SNL skit, right?
This couldn't have been Trump, saying this stuff seriously?! Man, I have been WAY wrong in crediting Trump with any common sense or intelligence.
What he said he didn't like, wasn't what he was asked about.
If you don't believe in "American Exceptionalism", you're essentially saying that you don't believe in core American values, as in, the Constitution, God given human rights, work ethic, "never say die", and etc... Even with America's reputation in the tank after 16 years of rule by two village idiot Democrats, within 24 years, America still remains "that city on a hill", that beacon for justice and freedom, to the vast majority of the people of the world (who are not Muslim).
Trump thought the question was about Americans, not America. "Obtuse", don't begin to cover it.