Actor and former Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has called upon Joe Biden to combat voter suppression.
Speaking with CNN’s Michael Smerconish on Saturday, the former “Terminator” star said that he will be investing his own money into opening up new polling places and hoped that Biden would help to create a new Voting Rights Act.
“I felt very strongly that I should invest in our democracy, and that means that I was — I recognize the fact that we had closed so many polling stations since 2013, since the Supreme Court made that decision, that we don’t really need the Voting Rights Act anymore,” said Schwarzenegger. “And since then, they closed 1,600 polling stations. And that really has an effect that I felt, that was, you know, kind of unjustifiable. That minorities in the South weren’t able to vote exactly the same way as we were voting everywhere else.”
Schwarzenegger noted how ridiculous Europeans might find the idea of him investing money into democracy.
“Look, my friends in Europe, they were laughing about the fact that I had to put in my own money in order to fight for democracy,” he added. “They said, you have the oldest democracy there is in the history, so how can you brag about that when you don’t really have the financial means to open up polling places and you don’t have laws in place so that there’s [no] voter suppression going on especially in the South?”
Later in the interview, Schwarzenegger set his sights on President Donald Trump and said that he did not get re-elected because he did not perform as a leader.
“I think with Trump it was very simply, you know, four years ago, they voted for Trump because he promised them a certain amount of things,” said Schwarzenegger. “I think the second time, when you get re-elected or want to get re-elected it’s more about what promises did you keep. And how did you perform as the leader. And I think that’s where, obviously, he fell short. So, this is why he was voted out.”
Schwarzenegger and Trump have been sparring ever since the 2016 election when the action star was tapped to head “The Apprentice” in the real-estate mogul’s absence. As the show’s ratings quickly dwindled, Trump made sure to put the blame on Schwarzenegger.
“Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t voluntarily leaving the Apprentice, he was fired by his bad (pathetic) ratings, not by me. Sad end to great show,” Trump wrote on Twitter at the time.
Schwarzenegger did not take the insults lying down and immediately shot back with a troll video of his own when Trump’s approval ratings dipped into the 30s in 2017.
“Oh, Donald, the ratings are in, and you got swamped. Wow. Now you’re in the 30s?” said Schwarzenegger at the time. “But what do you expect? I mean when you take away after school programs for children and meals on wheels for the poor people, that’s not what you call ‘making America great again.’ Come on! I mean, who is advising you? Let me give you some advice: go to a middle school — the Hart Middle School, right in Washington, six miles away from the White House. I’ll take you there, so you can see the fantastic work that they’re doing for these children. Let’s do it, huh?”