Former California governor and Hollywood legend Arnold Schwarzenegger called a presidential run by current Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) a “no-brainer” on Tuesday in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter.
Schwarzenegger said:
I think [Newsom running for president] is a no-brainer. Every governor from a big state wants to take that shot. What do I think about his performance? When you become part of the club, you don’t criticize governors — because you know how tough the job is. It’s impossible to please everybody. Before I ran for governor, I had an 80 percent approval rating. As soon as I announced, I had a 43 percent approval rating. Immediately, half of the people said, “Fuck him! I’m not going to see his movies anymore.” I would run things differently [than Newsom], but I’m a Republican, so of course I would. I don’t criticize him for not doing it my way.
Newsom has been devoting much of his time to visiting conservative states to attack their social policies. He has spent comparatively little time in California, notably leaving the state during deadly blizzards this winter.
Though Newsom told the Biden White House that he is not planning to run for president in 2024, he is seen as preparing the ground for a possible run in the event that Biden changes his mind about running for reelection.
Schwarzenegger, who has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, also said that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential Republican candidate in 2024, was “too conservative” for him, and “not my style.”
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.