Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro described President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE’s recent tweets attacking progressive congresswomen as "disgusting" and "racist," but suggested that such language is par for the course for the president.

“Everybody knows that the president acts like a white supremacist. He is a racist, he’s made that clear on so many different occasions,” Castro said Monday on CNN’s “New Day.”

Castro, the Housing and Urban Development Secretary under former President Obama, said Trump's political strategy is centered on dividing people along racial lines.

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"The question is, what are we as Americans going to do about this," Castro said.

“It’s disgusting, it’s racist…everybody knows that the President acts like a white supremacist,” 2020 Democratic presidential candidate @JulianCastro says about President Trump’s tweets attacking the progressive freshmen congresswomen.https://t.co/B4W6Mqyq4n pic.twitter.com/17u2NCHTfw — New Day (@NewDay) July 15, 2019

Castro added that it's not the first time the U.S. faced a leader "that made their whole career on being racially divisive."

"And in every generation Americans were able to rise up and push back and be better and more inclusive," he said. "That's the question for this election. Are we going to go forward to an America that continues to expand opportunity and get closer to words in our founding document? Or are we going to go backward?"

On Sunday, Trump tweeted that a group of progressive Democratic congresswomen should "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came."

Though he did not name the lawmakers, the president appeared to be attacking Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-CortezOn The Money: Anxious Democrats push for vote on COVID-19 aid | Pelosi, Mnuchin ready to restart talks | Weekly jobless claims increase | Senate treads close to shutdown deadline McCarthy says there will be a peaceful transition if Biden wins Anxious Democrats amp up pressure for vote on COVID-19 aid MORE (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar Ilhan OmarOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Trump attacks Omar for criticizing US: 'How did you do where you came from?' Democrats scramble on COVID-19 relief amid division, Trump surprise MORE (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib Rashida Harbi TlaibTrump attacks Omar for criticizing US: 'How did you do where you came from?' George Conway: 'Trump is like a practical joke that got out of hand' Pelosi endorses Kennedy in Massachusetts Senate primary challenge MORE (D-Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley Ayanna PressleyFauci, Black Lives Matter founders included on Time's 100 Most Influential People list Trump attacks Omar for criticizing US: 'How did you do where you came from?' Pressley applauded on House floor after moving speech on living with alopecia MORE (D-Mass.). All four are U.S. citizens, and only Omar was born outside of the U.S. She came to the country as a refugee from Somalia at age 12.

Democrats have widely rebuked the comments as racist. Despite pushback, the president later doubled down on this tweets.