‘Morning Joe’ begs GOP to derail Trump’s racism — but that train left the station months ago

Joe Scarborough begged Republicans to finally distance themselves from their presumptive nominee after the racist features on which he's built his political brand have finally started to dent his presidential campaign.

Several GOP lawmakers and officials have urged Donald Trump to retract his ethnicity-based criticisms of a judge presiding over the Trump University fraud trial -- but so far none of them have withdrawn their endorsement.

"If Trump continues to double down, at some point, people like Kelly (Ayotte), Ron Johnson from Wisconsin, (Rob) Portman in Ohio, they're not going to be able to endorse a guy that makes racist statements about people born in Indiana," Scarborough said.

The "Morning Joe" host compared the gathering electoral disaster to Mitt Romney's entirely predictable campaign debacle in 2012, when Republicans helplessly tried to shift gears after the GOP convention.

"It's time to stop right now," Scarborough pleaded, "and say this right now: Republicans in Washington, D.C., right now you're letting your presumptive nominee, who is making racist statements, run roughshod over what remaining national reputation we have as a national party. You have to start calling him out today. This is not where you can do the slow boil. You have to start calling him out and saying you're going to retract your endorsement of him today or else the United States Senate is in danger."

Trump presents a mortal danger not just to the political careers of his legislative supporters -- but to the United States' constitutional system of government, warned Scarborough, who has invited the candidate onto his MSNBC program numerous times.

"Kelly Ayotte's seat is in danger, Rob Portman's seat is in danger, Ron Johnson's seat is in danger, a lot of other seats are in danger," Scarborough continued. "If the Speaker of the House continues to endorse a man making racist statements and really tearing away at the very fabric of Madison's separation of powers that talks about an independent judiciary, then the House of Representatives is in danger."

Now that Trump has apparently sewn up the GOP nomination, despite running a campaign that has pulled white supremacists into the political mainstream, Scarborough said now it's time for Republicans to stuff the racist genie back into the bottle.

"Republicans, call him out, back away from those endorsements, make him back down on the Muslim ban, make him back down on this racist comment that he's made about a man born in Indiana, saying he's incapable of being a fair judge because of where his parents were born, or else you will lose the Senate, you will lose the House, you will lose governorships, you will lose your standing as a national party," he said. "It's that simple."

Watch the entire segment posted online by MSNBC: