Kudos for Arnold Schwarzenegger. He spoke up when too many other Republicans cowered behind lies, afraid of their voters and the truth.
In likening last week’s mob invasion of the U.S. Capitol to the Nazis’ 1938 Night of Broken Glass attack on Jews across Germany and his native Austria, Schwarzenegger asserted that “spineless” fellow Republicans were also to blame for the deadly riot.
Three things were particularly remarkable about the former California governor’s eight-minute video message that went viral on Sunday.
First, he linked Nazis with the violent followers of now twice-impeached President Donald Trump. Until recently, using the pejorative “Nazi” to characterize any American political activity was considered out of bounds.
But Schwarzenegger, 73, has firsthand knowledge and credibility. His father was a Nazi Party member and decorated German army police officer in World War II before Schwarzenegger was born. (The Simon Wiesenthal Center investigated at Schwarzenegger’s request many years later and did not find any war crimes committed by his dad.)
In the video, Schwarzenegger recalled growing up among broken former German soldiers, “drinking away their guilt over their participation in the most evil regime in history. Not all of them were rabid anti-Semites or Nazis. Many just went along, step by step, down the road.” Trump sought a coup by misleading people with lies. My father and our neighbors were misled also with lies. And I know where such lies lead.
“It all started with lies and lies and lies and intolerance,” he said. “Being from Europe, I have seen firsthand how things can spin out of control.”
Then the movie actor turned to Trump, who “sought to overturn the results of an election — and a fair election,” he said. Trump “sought a coup by misleading people with lies. My father and our neighbors were misled also with lies. And I know where such lies lead.”
The second remarkable thing is that Schwarzenegger called Trump a “failed leader” and ad-libbed that “he will go down in history as the worst president ever.”
Lots of people may think Trump’s the worst, but Schwarzenegger is the first prominent Republican to publicly state it.
Third, here’s a celebrity Republican who called out GOP politicians for being cowardly. They sinned by pandering to Trump when they should have been protecting democracy, Schwarzenegger asserted.
The last straw for Schwarzenegger was the lemming-like echoing by most Republican pols of Trump’s lie that Joe Biden and Democrats stole the election. In truth, it was the opposite: Trump tried to steal the election.
That lie riled the rioters, along with Trump’s fiery speech that launched their ransacking of the Capitol — a storming of democracy’s cathedral aimed at halting Congress’ counting of electoral votes.
“What are we to make of those elected officials who have enabled (Trump’s) lies and his treachery?” Schwarzenegger asked. “I would remind them of what Teddy Roosevelt said, ‘Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president.’
