Former Terminator actor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced with a post on X he will be voting for Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Bottom line: he is an American first, then a Republican, and Donald Trump will only fuel hatred in the country the Austrian-born Schwarzenegger loves.
The former Hollywood star was the Republican governor of California from 2003 to 2011 but could not run for the White House, having been born outside the US.
In his long post on X, Schwarzenegger wrote, “I don’t really do endorsements. I’m not shy about sharing my views, but I hate politics and don’t trust most politicians. I also understand that people want to hear from me because I am not just a celebrity, I am a former Republican Governor. My time as Governor taught me to love policy and ignore politics”.
“Let me be honest with you: I don’t like either party right now. My Republicans have forgotten the beauty of the free market, driven up deficits, and rejected election results. Democrats aren’t any better at dealing with deficits, and I worry about their local policies hurting our cities with increased crime” he continued.
But, “To someone like me who talks to people all over the world and still knows America is the shining city on a hill, calling America a trash can for the world is so unpatriotic, it makes me furious. And I will always be an American before I am a Republican. That’s why, this week, I am voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz”.
“I’m sharing it with all of you because I think there are a lot of you who feel like I do” the former California governor wrote. “You don’t recognize our country. And you are right to be furious” he said listing the Biden administration faults. “But a candidate who won’t respect your vote unless it is for him, a candidate who will send his followers to storm the Capitol while he watches with a Diet Coke, a candidate who has shown no ability to work to pass any policy besides a tax cut that helped his donors and other rich people like me, but helped no one else else, a candidate who thinks Americans who disagree with him are the bigger enemies than China, Russia, or North Korea – that won’t solve our problems. It will just be four more years of bullshit with no results that makes us angrier and angrier, more divided, and more hateful”.
“We need to close the door on this chapter of American history, and I know that former President Trump won’t do that. He will divide, he will insult, he will find new ways to be more un-American than he already has been, and we, the people, will get nothing but more anger”.
Schwarzenegger has been openly critical of the former president in recent years. Following the January 6, 2021, insurrection, Schwarzenegger said Trump would be remembered as the worst president in US history. When Trump was elected in 2016, Schwarzenegger took over the former president’s show, “The Celebrity Apprentice”. Trump mocked the show for low ratings in 2017, and Schwarzenegger responded: “Hey Donald, I have a great idea. Why don’t we switch jobs?”
