Jerry Springer on Donald Trump: ‘His campaign is evil’
Francine Wolfisz is the Features Editor for Jewish News.
Jerry Springer has openly accused Donald Trump of “giving cover to racists” and warned an outright win for the Republican front-runner will bring America to the brink of civil war.
In an exclusive interview with Jewish News, the popular American television host also said “it would take a generation to recover” should the billionaire property mogul succeed in his race to the White House.
Springer made the comments on Monday while launching the World Jewish Relief (WJR) Archives project, which has digitised the personal records of more than 40,000 refugees rescued from Germany by the organisation. The documents include those of his parents Margot and Richard Springer, who arrived in Britain shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War
Speaking ahead of Super Tuesday II, which saw Clinton crush her Jewish rival Bernie Sanders across five states, Springer spoke out against her potential election rival, Trump, describing him as “dangerous”.
The 72-year-old presenter said: “It is foolhardy to believe that Trump is not throwing wood on the fire here. He is giving cover – and I think he knows better – to racists. He is making it acceptable for people with these horrible, racist attitudes to think this is acceptable. They think: ‘We have a man running for president saying this stuff, so it’s ok if I say it.’ That’s what’s dangerous about Trump. What he is doing is evil and horrific.”
Referring to Trump’s proposal to stop illegal immigrants by building a wall across the US-Mexico border, Springer added: “He’s clearly a very bad example of what America stands for. The symbol of America we like to think of is the statue of liberty, not a wall.
“He is so anti-American in his attitudes. He lives under the cover of saying, ‘I want to make America great again’ and yet what he is proposing is to destroy the whole idea of America.”
In his trademark style, the former mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio, even quipped that a Trump success would lead to unrest and a mass population migration.
“There won’t be an outright civil war, but there would be more disruption than America has seen since the actual Civil War.
“Trump’s biggest problem would be trying to handle the visas of all the Americans trying to get out!”
On whether the Democratic former First Lady and Secretary of State or her rival would better serve Israel’s interests during their tenure as president, Springer said this was one issue where voters could safely “put the campaign rhetoric aside.”
“Every American president since 1948 has been pro-Israel,” he said resolutely. “People yell about Obama, but he has given more aid for the Iron Dome and to Israel than any president ever. It’s part of America’s DNA now to support Israel so that’s never a question. Even when you have a Republican president, much as I dislike that – they support Israel. America is pro-Israel, period.”
Having been born in Britain, Springer, who confesses his passion is “still politics” and once worked as a political campaign adviser to Robert F Kennedy, is not eligible to run for president himself – but said he might entertain the idea should the rules one day change.
However, he laughed at the suggestion that an election race against actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger might appear on the horizon.
“Oh my God, can you imagine that?” he said. “Thankfully both of us are ineligible and I think many Americans are very happy about that. They sleep well at night knowing they don’t have to worry about me.”
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