Former Republican governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger took to social media on Wednesday to announce he would vote for Vice President Kamala Harris. The 77-year-old legendary actor, who served as governor from 2003 to 2011, also condemned Donald Trump and explained why the Republican presidential candidate was not fit for the job.
Schwarzenegger started his lengthy post on X by saying that though he doesn’t “really do endorsements,” he’s “not shy” about sharing his views. “But I hate politics and don’t trust most politicians,” he stated. “I also understand that people want to hear from me because I am not just a celebrity, I am a former Republican Governor.”
The Terminator actor then touched on his time as governor and how his tenure taught him to “love policy and ignore politics.” “I’m proud of the work I did to help clean up our air, create jobs, balance the budget, make the biggest infrastructure investment in state history, and take power from the politicians and give it back to the people when it comes to our redistricting process and our primaries in California,” he wrote.
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“That’s policy. It requires working with the other side, not insulting them to win your next election, and I know it isn’t sexy to most people, but I love it when I can help make people’s lives better with policies, like I still do through my institute at USC, where we fight for clean air and stripping the power from the politicians who rig the system against the people.”
Schwarzenegger also made it clear that he’s not a fan of the country’s two biggest parties at the moment, explaining that Republicans have “forgotten the beauty of the free market, driven up deficits, and rejected election results” while Democrats “aren’t any better at dealing with deficits, and I worry about their local policies hurting our cities with increased crime.”
The 77-year-old added: “It is probably not a surprise that I hate politics more than ever, which, if you are a normal person who isn’t addicted to this crap, you probably understand. I want to tune out. But I can’t.”
The former governor then condemned Trump’s actions after he lost the 2020 presidential election. “Rejecting the results of an election is as un-American as it gets,” he stated. “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.”
“And I will always be an American before I am a Republican,” he continued. “That’s why, this week, I am voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.”
Schwarzenegger said that though others also share his sentiments about the current “problems” in the country, voting for Trump would exacerbate things.
“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,” he explained.
“It will just be four more years of bullshit with no results that makes us angrier and angrier, more divided, and more hateful,” he added.
“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.
“That’s enough reason for me to share my vote with all of you. I want to move forward as a country, and even though I have plenty of disagreements with their platform, I think the only way to do that is with Harris and Walz. Vote this week. Turn the page and put this junk behind us.”
In September, Face2Face Africa reported that over 100 former Republican officials in a letter had similarly endorsed Harris and explained that Trump was “unfit to serve again as President, or indeed in any office of public trust.”
Per CNBC, the letter was shared by the Harris campaign, and it was signed by 111 former Republican officials. They included former national security and foreign policy officials who served in the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and/or Donald Trump, or as Republican Members of Congress.
