The 2024 election is barreling toward Americans, and while most of us will be glad to see it pass, the anxiety surrounding it has reached a fever pitch. Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have been pounding the campaign trail in a bid to reach as many voters as possible in the final week, and the result has been a slew of celebrity condemnations and support.
In a rare turn of events, Arnold Schwarzenegger weighed in on the conversation over on X.com. The former Governor of California hasn’t endorsed a candidate since 2008 when he was in the political arena himself. Despite his avid “I hate politics and don’t trust most politicians” stance, he’s fully supporting Kamala Harris for president.
In a lengthy post to X.com, the “Governator” used his former position as a launching point for his eloquent endorsement. The Tweet drew in users across the app, racking up more than 13 million views in less than 6 hours.
“People want to hear from me because I am not just a celebrity, I am a former Republican Governor,” He wrote. “I’m sharing it with all of you because I think there are a lot of you who feel like I do. You don’t recognize our country. And you are right to be furious.”
Leaning on his experience, he talked about learning to “love policy and ignore politics.” Rather than laud Harris for her accomplishments in the political sector, Schwarzenegger used his platform to highlight his opposition to Trump. He talked about the need for policy over politics, the importance of a balanced budget, treating the opposition with respect, and politicians’ unique ability to help the everyday American.
Mirroring many Americans, Schwarzenegger lamented the current state of the country. “Let me be honest with you: I don’t like either party right now,” he wrote. “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.”
“The problems just keep rolling, and we all keep getting angrier, because the only people that benefit from problems aren’t you, the people. The only people that benefit from this crap are the politicians who prefer having talking points to win elections to the public service that will make Americans’ lives better.”
Despite his desire to “tune out” of the conversation, Schwarzenegger says, “rejecting the results of an election is as un-American as it gets.”
“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 is a trash can for the world is so unpatriotic, it makes me furious.”
He asserts that he is an “American before I am a Republican,” which is why he unequivocally supports the Harris/Walz ticket. It’s a big moment from such a high-profile Republican, and speaks volumes to the divide Donald Trump and his ghoulish cronies ushered in. Schwarzenegger was a Republican governor of a blue state for eight years, and endorsed John McCain over Barack Obama.
But he’s never been a fan of Trump, which couldn’t be more clear from his laser-focused words.
“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, 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 bull**** with no results that makes us angrier and angrier, more divided, and more hateful.”
His well-thought-out words resonated with many commenters, but naturally, plenty of Trumpy die-hards couldn’t be bothered to read the entire 700+ word post. If they had, they would have seen the actor’s perfect response,
“Even if you disagree with me, vote, because that’s what we do as Americans,” complete with a link to Vote.org.