Donald Trump declares himself a champion of equality because he didn't segregate his Florida club

In an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America on Tuesday, Donald Trump made the case for himself as an unparalleled champion of racial equality, citing as evidence a Florida club he owns.

His remarks came in response to a question from host George Stephanopoulos about Trump's recent waffling over denouncing the Ku Klux Klan. "There's nobody that's done so much for equality as I have," Trump said, before bringing up his club. "You take a look at Palm Beach, Florida. I built the Mar-a-Lago Club, totally open to everybody. A club that, frankly, set a new standard in clubs and a new standard in Palm Beach and I've gotten great credit for it."

Trump's launch of the Mar-a-Lago was marked by a discussion of racial discrimination when it opened in 1990, but the story is not as simple as he suggests. The real estate baron claimed that municipal restrictions on his development plans stemmed from a racist desire to keep black and Jewish people out of Palm Beach, a story local leaders adamantly denied, citing instead noise and traffic concerns about the massive property.

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As the Washington Post reported in a profile of the club, Trump mailed copies of two movies that deal with anti-racist themes to town council members to accuse them of racism, a fight he won in the court of public opinion — and eventually local politics, as development was permitted to move forward.

Trump has also argued that his history with the Mar-a-Lago is proof he will make a great commander-in-chief.