Lindsey Graham Wants Republicans To Unendorse Donald Trump

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is calling on Republicans who have endorsed the party's presumptive nominee, Donald Trump , to take it all back.

Graham said Trump's recent racist comments about a federal judge with Mexican-American heritage were "the most un-American thing from a politician since Joe McCarthy."

“If anybody was looking for an off-ramp , this is probably it,” Graham told The New York Times. “There’ll come a time when the love of country will trump hatred of Hillary.”

The senator expanded on this idea Tuesday during an interview with NBC News' Hallie Jackson.

“There are a lot of people who want to be loyal to the Republican Party , including me," he said. "But there’ll come a point in time where we’re gonna have to understand that it’s not just about the 2016 race, it’s about the future of the party and I would like to support our nominee. I just can’t.” 

“Every person in the Republican Party’s got to make their own decision," Graham added. "I am going to focus on the House and Senate. I am going to focus on helping my colleagues in the House and Senate ‘cause I can do that enthusiastically.”  

Republicans have criticized Trump's claim that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel has been biased while presiding over a case against Trump University because he is Latino.

“I couldn’t disagree more with a statement like that,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Sunday.

“Claiming a person can’t do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment. I think that should be absolutely disavowed. It’s absolutely unacceptable," Ryan said before noting he would still vote for Trump.

Igor Bobic contributed to this report. 

Editor's note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence  and is a serial liar , rampant xenophobe , racist , misogynist  and birther  who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims -- 1.6 billion members of an entire religion -- from entering the U.S.

CORRECTION: In an earlier version of this story, Gonzalo Curiel was described as an Indiana judge; he is a federal judge. Due to an editing error, this piece initially referred to Susan Collins as a representative. She is a senator.