LOS ANGELES — Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris for president Wednesday, delivering the Democratic candidate another prominent Republican endorsement in the final days of the 2024 race.
Schwarzenegger characterized his choice more as a vote against Trump than for Harris — against Trump’s denial of the 2020 election results, his denigration of America as the world’s dumping ground, his branding his political opponents as “enemies from within,” his standing by while his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, his tax benefits for the rich, and his penchant for insults and divisive language more broadly.
“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,” Schwarzenegger wrote in a long endorsement post on X.
“That’s enough reason for me to share my vote with all of you,” Schwarzenegger’s post continued. “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.”
Harris has heavily courted prominent Republicans to turn away from Trump, hoping that their reasoning for crossing party lines to back her will resonate with Republican and independent voters who are still undecided.
The Harris campaign, which has struck many similar notes as Schwarzenegger, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, said Schwarzenegger “thinks too highly of himself if he actually believes his endorsement will matter. He hasn’t been relevant in 15 years.”
Schwarzenegger holds some things in common with both candidates.
Like Harris, he is from California, and they have worked together in the past. For example, when Harris as San Francisco’s district attorney sponsored legislation to increase penalties for adults who solicited sex from minors, then-Gov. Schwarzenegger signed it into law.
Like Trump, Schwarzenegger is a celebrity turned political power broker. Before his stint as California’s governor, the Austria native was — and perhaps still is — most famous for his roles in the “Terminator” movie franchise, and for his long career as a bodybuilder.
Schwarzenegger started his endorsement post by saying, “I don’t really do endorsements. I’m not shy about sharing my views, but I hate politics and don’t trust most politicians.”
But he said he realized people might want to hear from him because of his time as governor.
He said he doesn’t “like either party right now.” Republicans, he said, “have forgotten the beauty of the free market, driven up deficits, and rejected election results.” Democrats, he said, “aren’t any better at dealing with deficits, and I worry about their local policies hurting our cities with increased crime.”
“It is probably not a surprise that I hate politics more than ever, which, if you are a normal person who isn’t addicted to this crap, you probably understand. I want to tune out,” Schwarzenegger wrote. “But I can’t. Because rejecting the results of an election is as un-American as it gets. 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.”
Schwarzenegger was seemingly referring to Trump remarking on the campaign trail that the U.S. is “a dumping ground. We’re like a garbage can for the world.”
His highlighting Trump’s remark may not have been coincidental. It comes just as President Biden — and Harris by extension — comes under fire for a remark of his, in which he castigated a speaker at a recent Trump rally at Madison Square Garden for calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” and appeared to deride Trump’s supporters as “garbage” in the process.
“They’re good, decent, honorable people,” Biden said of the Puerto Rican community. “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done.”
Republicans lept on the remark as further proof that Democrats have disdain for average Americans — comparing it to Hillary Clinton’s famous gaffe calling Trump supporters “deplorables” during the 2016 race. The White House quickly tried to dispel that criticism, with a spokesman saying that Biden had been referring to “the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as garbage.”
They also shared a different transcript that suggested the quote was “supporter’s,” not “supporters,” as in, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable” — which they suggested was a direct rebuke of one supporter in particular: the comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who made the remarks about Puerto Rico.
Asked about Biden’s remarks, Harris noted that he clarified them, but also distanced herself from them.
“Listen, I think, first of all, he clarified his comments, but let me be clear: I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for,” she said.
Scwarzenegger said he was sharing his endorsement Wednesday “because I think there are a lot of you who feel like I do. You don’t recognize our country. And you are right to be furious.”
