Arnold Schwarzenegger says he’s voting for Harris

CNN
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Arnold Schwarzenegger, the previous Republican governor of California, stated Wednesday he shall be voting for Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz in a uncommon endorsement.

“To somebody like me who talks to individuals everywhere in 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 stated in a put up on X.

The well-known actor and longtime Republican criticized Donald Trump and stated a second time period for the previous president would make individuals “angrier and angrier, extra divided, and extra hateful.”

“He’ll divide, he’ll insult, he’ll discover new methods to be extra un-American than he already has been, and we, the individuals, will get nothing however extra anger,” Schwarzenegger stated. Final week, Trump stated the US is “like a rubbish can for the world” as he railed towards unlawful immigration at a marketing campaign rally in Arizona.

Schwarzenegger has been brazenly essential of the previous president lately. Following the January 6, 2021, revolt, Schwarzenegger stated Trump could be remembered because the worst president in US historical past and urged unity amongst Individuals.

After the previous president emerged because the clear front-runner for the GOP nomination final yr, Schwarzenegger spoke with CNN’s Dana Bash and predicted Trump would lose the 2024 election as a result of Republicans had dug a gap for themselves with him because the occasion’s chief.

“It’s unhappy to see that. That they couldn’t provide you with a brand new expertise, with a brand new face, that may be a cheap, sensible, clever particular person that may lead this nation in a Republican method,” he informed Bash.

The feud between the 2 stretches again to Trump’s first time period, after Schwarzenegger took over the previous president’s prized present, “The Superstar Apprentice,” in 2015. Trump mocked the present, titled “The New Superstar Apprentice,” for low scores in 2017, and Schwarzenegger responded: “Hey Donald, I’ve a terrific concept. Why don’t we swap jobs?” Schwarzenegger reduce ties with the present in 2017.

In his Wednesday put up, Schwarzenegger added: “I need to transfer ahead as a rustic, and despite the fact that I’ve loads of disagreements with their platform, I feel the one method to try this is with Harris and Walz.”

In the meantime, retired astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin endorsed Trump on Wednesday.

Aldrin, the final surviving member of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission and the second particular person to stroll on the moon, praised Trump’s first time period and particularly cited the previous president’s earlier house insurance policies in a press release saying the endorsement.

The 94-year-old stated he has seen the “authorities’s strategy to house wax and wane, a fluctuating dynamic that has disenchanted me on occasion. However below the primary Trump Administration, I used to be impressed to see how human house exploration was elevated, made a coverage of excessive significance once more. Beneath President Trump’s first time period, America noticed a revitalized curiosity in house.”

In 2018, the retired astronaut applauded the Trump administration’s creation of the House Drive, which turned the latest army service when Trump signed it into existence the next yr.

In Wednesday’s assertion, Aldrin added: “I’ve been enthused and excited by the nice developments within the non-public sector house financial system, led by visionaries like Elon Musk. These are concrete accomplishments that align with my considerations and America’s coverage priorities.”

“For me, for the way forward for our Nation, to fulfill monumental challenges, and for the confirmed coverage accomplishments above, I imagine the nation is finest served by voting for Donald J. Trump,” he stated.

CNN’s Sandra Gonzalez contributed to this report.