PHILADELPHIA – Jerry Springer is many things to many people.
To those who have were in Cincinnati in the 1970s and 1980s, he was a Cincinnati council member and mayor; and later a local TV news anchor.
For millions of others around the world, he has been in recent decades the host of a raucous TV talk show that is likely at any time to break out into chair-throwing fights.
But to those who know him best, he is an immigrant to this country, the son of Jewish parents who fled to London to escape Nazi oppression, and someone who had many family members slaughtered in the Holocaust.
And a man who takes very seriously what he calls the "idea of America."
Thursday morning he stopped by the Ohio delegation breakfast to talk about that idea – a nation of freedom where all have been welcome, whether fleeing from oppression or seeking a better life for their families.
That idea, Springer said, is under threat.
The threat, he said, is Donald Trump.
"Now we have somebody running for president who wants to replace the Statue of Liberty with a wall," Springer said.
With Trump's candidacy, Springer asks, "are we telling the world that we don't really believe this – this American idea? If that's the case, then don't be standing up in the seventh inning stretch singing 'God Bless America.'"
In this election, Springer said, "we’ve got to save the America idea. We have to show that our sons and daughters who have died protecting it did not die in vain."
Trump, Springer said, "disrespects the presidency."
"He thinks he can run for the presidency as an entry into politics?," Springer said. "Seriously?"
"You don't bring the apprentice into the White House," Springer said, referring to Trump's reality TV show, "The Apprentice."
In one way, Springer suggested, he is like Trump.
"I'm a talk show host of a reality program," Springer said. "But I shouldn't be president of the United States."
"Don’t worry, though," the 72-year-old international celebrity said. "I can't run. I wasn't born in this country."
