With lower than every week to go till Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris has obtained one other endorsement from a Republican former elected official. However the one she obtained on Wednesday could be the just one from a former Mr. Universe title-holder.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the previous Republican governor of California, mentioned that he will probably be voting for Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz this week.
In a prolonged put up on social media on Wednesday, Schwarzenegger, an expert bodybuilder-turned-actor-turned-politician, defined why he is develop into the most recent Republican to endorse the Democratic vice chairman over his celebration’s nominee, former President Donald Trump.
“[A] candidate who received’t respect your vote except it’s for him, a candidate who will ship his followers to storm the Capitol whereas he watches with a Weight loss program Coke, a candidate who has proven no skill to work to go any coverage moreover a tax lower that helped his donors and different wealthy folks like me however helped nobody else, a candidate who thinks People who disagree with him are the larger enemies than China, Russia, or North Korea – that received’t clear up our issues. It’s going to simply be 4 extra years of b******* with no outcomes that makes us angrier and angrier, extra divided, and extra hateful.
“We have to shut the door on this chapter of American historical past, and I do know that former President Trump received’t try this,” he continued. “He’ll divide, he’ll insult, he’ll discover new methods to be extra un-American than he already has been, and we, the folks, will get nothing however extra anger.”
“That’s sufficient purpose for me to share my vote with all of you,” Schwarzenegger added. “I need to transfer ahead as a rustic, and regardless that I’ve loads of disagreements with their platform, I feel the one method to do this is with Harris and Walz. Vote this week. Flip the web page and put this junk behind us.”
The “Kindergarten Cop” star, who chaired the the President’s Council on Bodily Health and Sports activities underneath George H.W. Bush earlier than successful a particular recall election in 2003 to exchange then-California Gov. Grey Davis, a Democrat, defined that he would not “actually do endorsements.”
“I’m not shy about sharing my views, however I hate politics and don’t belief most politicians,” he mentioned, earlier than including: “I additionally perceive that individuals need to hear from me as a result of I’m not only a movie star, I’m a former Republican Governor.”
Schwarzenegger, broadly thought of a average Republican, touted bipartisan accomplishments throughout his time within the California Governor’s Mansion, which he mentioned must be the norm in American politics.
“That’s coverage. It requires working with the opposite aspect, not insulting them to win your subsequent election, and I do know it isn’t horny to most individuals, however I like it after I can assist make folks’s lives higher with insurance policies,” he mentioned, earlier than including that he isn’t a fan of the present state of both political celebration.
“Let me be trustworthy with you: I don’t like both celebration proper now,” Schwarzenegger defined. “My Republicans have forgotten the fantastic thing about the free market, pushed up deficits, and rejected election outcomes. Democrats aren’t any higher at coping with deficits, and I fear about their native insurance policies hurting our cities with elevated crime. It’s most likely not a shock that I hate politics greater than ever, which, in case you are a traditional one who isn’t hooked on this crap, you most likely perceive.”
“I need to tune out. However I can’t,” he continued. “As a result of rejecting the outcomes of an election is as un-American because it will get. To somebody like me who talks to folks all around the world and nonetheless is aware of America is the shining metropolis on a hill, calling America is a trash can for the world is so unpatriotic, it makes me livid. And I’ll all the time be an American earlier than I’m a Republican. That’s why, this week, I’m voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.”
Schwarzenegger and Trump feuded quite a few instances over time — and never essentially as a result of the actor succeeded the businessman as host of “The Celeb Apprentice,” although Trump, as president, did jab at Schwarzenegger over his departure from the present, charging in a social media put up that he was “fired by his unhealthy (pathetic) scores.”
Within the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump’s supporters, Schwarzenegger known as him a “failed chief” who “will go down in historical past because the worst President ever.”
The Harris marketing campaign has prioritized outreach to Republican voters who could also be disenchanted with Trump, significantly those that supported former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley within the 2024 GOP major. Harris has campaigned alongside a lot of Republican former officers, together with former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney and Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger.
Schwarzenegger’s ex-wife, former California first girl Maria Shriver, just lately moderated a dialog between Harris and Cheney in Michigan and has been vocal in her assist for the vice chairman.