The editorial board for North Carolina's top newspapers on Monday called for every Republican member of Congress to condemn 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 "racist" attacks against minority lawmakers, saying the behavior is "so troubling that our leaders need to stand up and say something."

"The same president who referred to African and Haitian nations as 'shithole countries' and said African visitors would never 'go back to their huts' once again doubled down on his racism," the editorial board for The Charlotte Observer and The Raleigh News & Observer wrote in an op-ed titled, "Are you OK with a racist president, Republicans?"

"It’s dangerous, destructive behavior, and at the least every Republican lawmaker in Congress should declare as much about their president’s outburst."

ADVERTISEMENT

The board, which endorsed Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonFox News poll: Biden ahead of Trump in Nevada, Pennsylvania and Ohio Trump, Biden court Black business owners in final election sprint The power of incumbency: How Trump is using the Oval Office to win reelection MORE for president in 2016, went on to single out North Carolina's two GOP senators, saying that Richard Burr Richard Mauze BurrHillicon Valley: Subpoenas for Facebook, Google and Twitter on the cards | Wray rebuffs mail-in voting conspiracies | Reps. raise mass surveillance concerns Bipartisan representatives demand answers on expired surveillance programs Rep. Mark Walker says he's been contacted about Liberty University vacancy MORE and Thom Tillis Thomas (Thom) Roland TillisTillis appears to reinforce question about COVID-19 death toll Billionaire who donated to Trump in 2016 donates to Biden Collins: Winner of presidential election will be sworn in next year MORE need to denounce Trump's latest remarks.

"We know this isn’t easy politically, especially for Tillis, who is running for reelection and faces a Republican primary challenger in a race to see who can embrace the president more fully," the board wrote, before noting that several GOP lawmakers have struggled to adequately respond to Trump's "tendencies" over the last two years.

The board added that this reluctance has contributed to a reality in which "the Republican Party is firmly Donald Trump’s party."

"It’s the party where insults and other ugliness are just being 'rough around the edges,'" the board concluded. "It’s the party where locking legal migrants in crowded, unhealthy cages is acceptable immigration policy. It’s the party where it’s OK to say racist things so long as the next jobs report is encouraging.

"If you don’t believe it, listen to the meekness today from Republicans, including those who represent our state."

The searing op-ed was published just a day after Trump targeted a group of minority congresswomen in a Twitter attack, saying that they should "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came" before speaking out about how the United States government should be run.

Trump also claimed that the progressive Democrats "came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe."

He did not identify the lawmakers in his tweet. But the comments came amid a week of escalating tension between Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and four freshman House Democrats — Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.).

Tlaib, Ocasio-Cortez and Pressley were born in the United States. Omar was born in Somalia before coming to the U.S. as a refugee with her family. All four are U.S. citizens.

Several Democratic and Republican lawmakers have condemned the remarks as racist and xenophobic.