onald Trump called in to CNN on Tuesday morning to defend his widely condemned proposal to ban Muslims — even American citizens who are traveling abroad — from entering the U.S. in the wake of recent terrorist attacks.

Chris Cuomo, host of the cable news network's "New Day," asked the Republican frontrunner point-blank if his proposal made him a "fascist."

"Well, I totally disagree," said Trump, apparently battling a cold. "You take a look, Chris, at what's going on, and it is disgraceful."

He said the backlash to his discriminatory and unconstitutional suggestion showed that too many Americans had "quickly" forgotten the Sept. 11, 2001, destruction of the World Trade Center.

"I have no doubt that we have no choice but to do exactly what I said until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on," Trump said. "We have a problem in this country. You look at Paris, you look at the carnage that took place in Paris, but look at Paris beyond that. Paris is no longer the beautiful, gorgeous city with all — Paris has a tremendous amount of problems. They have areas in Paris that have been radicalized, where the police refuse to go in and look at it."

Cuomo challenged the real estate tycoon and reality TV star to explain why the French had reached out to Muslims living in their country following last month's deadly attacks, while Trump's policies signaled Americans were "too afraid to be inclusive."