Arnold Schwarzenegger says he’s voting for Harris
By Shania Shelton and Jack Forrest, CNN
(CNN) — Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former Republican governor of California, said Wednesday he will be voting for Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz in a rare endorsement.
“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. That’s why, this week, I am voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz,” Schwarzenegger said in a post on X.
The famous actor and longtime Republican criticized Donald Trump and said a second term for the former president would make people “angrier and angrier, more divided, and more hateful.”
“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,” Schwarzenegger said. Last week, Trump said the US is “like a garbage can for the world” as he railed against illegal immigration at a campaign rally in Arizona.
Schwarzenegger has been openly critical of the former president in recent years. Following the January 6, 2021, insurrection, Schwarzenegger said Trump would be remembered as the worst president in US history and urged unity among Americans.
After the former president emerged as the clear front-runner for the GOP nomination last year, Schwarzenegger spoke with CNN’s Dana Bash and predicted Trump would lose the 2024 election because Republicans had dug a hole for themselves with him as the party’s leader.
“It’s sad to see that. That they couldn’t come up with a new talent, with a new face, that is a reasonable, smart, intelligent person that can lead this country in a Republican way,” he told Bash.
The feud between the two stretches back to Trump’s first term, after Schwarzenegger took over the former president’s prized show, “The Celebrity Apprentice,” in 2015. Trump mocked the show, titled “The New Celebrity Apprentice,” for low ratings in 2017, and Schwarzenegger responded: “Hey Donald, I have a great idea. Why don’t we switch jobs?” Schwarzenegger cut ties with the show in 2017.
In his Wednesday post, Schwarzenegger added: “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.”
Buzz Aldrin endorses Trump
Meanwhile, retired astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin endorsed Trump on Wednesday.
Aldrin, the last surviving member of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission and the second person to walk on the moon, praised Trump’s first term and specifically cited the former president’s previous space policies in a statement announcing the endorsement.
The 94-year-old said he has seen the “government’s approach to space wax and wane, a fluctuating dynamic that has disappointed me from time to time. But under the first Trump Administration, I was impressed to see how human space exploration was elevated, made a policy of high importance again. Under President Trump’s first term, America saw a revitalized interest in space.”
In 2018, the retired astronaut applauded the Trump administration’s creation of the Space Force, which became the newest military service when Trump signed it into existence the following year.
In Wednesday’s statement, Aldrin added: “I have been enthused and excited by the great advancements in the private sector space economy, led by visionaries like Elon Musk. These are concrete accomplishments that align with my concerns and America’s policy priorities.”
“For me, for the future of our Nation, to meet enormous challenges, and for the proven policy accomplishments above, I believe the nation is best served by voting for Donald J. Trump,” he said.
CNN’s Sandra Gonzalez contributed to this report.
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