Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former bodybuilder, Hollywood star and Republican governor of California, has endorsed Kamala Harris for president.
In a lengthy post on social media, Schwarzenegger said he didn’t want to do an endorsement, that he hates politics and doesn’t trust politicians. He wrote that he doesn’t like either the Republican or the Democratic parties lately and that he wants to tune out ― but he can’t.
“Because rejecting the results of an election is as un-American as it gets,” Schwarzenegger wrote, referring to Republican nominee Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the 2020 election he lost.
“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.”
Schwarzenegger said last year he wasn’t excited about a rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden, suggesting a new candidate would be ideal.
“I’m open to someone fresh coming in and someone new kind of taking over,” Schwarzenegger told Axios in September 2023. Harris took over as the Democratic nominee in July. Schwarzenegger joins a growing list of other Harris-endorsing celebrities that includes Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift.
In his Wednesday post on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, Schwarzenegger lamented that Washington policymakers constantly debate the national debt and immigration yet never pass significant legislation addressing those issues.
“We should be pissed! 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, 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,” Schwarzenegger wrote.
“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. That’s enough reason for me to share my vote with all of you.”