As chaos nearly erupted at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on Wednesday over Ted Cruz’s non-endorsement of Donald Trump, talk show host Jerry Springer saw what he said reminded him of the decades he’s spent presenting one of television’s most notorious programs.
“The RNC Convention is just a parody of my show. Even the chanting. This is not how we run a country!” “The Jerry Springer Show” host tweeted Wednesday.
Mr. Springer, who served as mayor of Cincinnati before his television career took off in the early 1990s, tweeted the remark moments after Mr. Cruz generated jeers from convention attendees by refusing to explicitly endorse Mr. Trump for president while on stage in Cleveland.
Heidi Cruz, the Texas senator’s wife, was reportedly escorted out of the convention by security while being verbally assaulted by audience members as her husband spoke, according to attendees.
Mr. Springer’s comment had been retweeted more than 6,000 times by Thursday afternoon, including by the Democratic Party’s official Twitter account.
“We weren’t going to say it, but…” @TheDemocrats tweeted, along with a link to Mr. Springer’s remark.
“Never seen a Convention where the only people with good things to say about the candidate are his family,” Mr. Springer, 72, said in a subsequent tweet Thursday.
Mr. Springer, a Democrat, has previously tweeted his support of Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
In an episode of his podcast taped earlier in the week, the talk show host accused Mr. Trump of effectively assisting the recruitment efforts of Islamic State terrorists by frequently making statements he said are detrimental to national security.
“I don’t care what your politics — be a lifelong Republican, be a conservative, be what you’re gonna be — but no serious person can tell me that this guy should be president of the United States,” he said of Mr. Trump.
“If you love this country you can’t honestly believe that Donald Trump ought to be leader of the free world or leader of this country,” Mr. Springer said. “If you want to get him back on ’The Apprentice’ and watch ’Apprentice,’ God bless you. He was great at that. But this man has no business being president of the United States. He threatens the security of this country we love.”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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