Incoming US President Donald Trump took a swipe at former California governor and veteran Hollywood action star Arnold Schwarzenegger when the ratings of the latter’s reality TV show “The Celebrity Apprentice” came out last week.
In a tweet on January 6, Trump said that the ratings of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s show got swamped or destroyed by comparison to the ratings machine, referring to himself.
Trump went on the tease the “Commando” actor when he added in another tweet that the first season of “The Celebrity Apprentice” to the Season 1 of “The Apprentice,” which he said also reached all the way to Season 14. He ended the same tweet by saying that who cares about Schwarzenegger, since he openly supported Kasich and Hillary anyway, details the Huffington Post.
But instead of engaging the President-elect on a social media banter, Schwarzenegger instead took the high road by responding to the tweets a few hours later and saying that there is nothing more important than the people’s work.
The “Terminator” actor also wished Trump the best of luck and hope that he would work for all of the American people as aggressively as he worked for his TV show’s ratings.
Schwarzenegger seems to have hit Trump right on the head as the President-elect never bothered to respond to the actor’s response on Twitter.
Political analysts believe that Trump once again showed his immaturity on social media and it is best for him to stay away from the platform as much as possible. One expert even said that Donald Trump should grow up especially when he is about to step into the White House and become the most powerful man in the world in a few days’ time.
Firing underperformers
Long before Schwarzenegger inherited the role of firing underperformers on camera, he was the one selling voters on a pledge to fire an underperforming government.
Few politicians are better acquainted than Schwarzenegger with the fickleness of an electorate that propels an outsider with an outsized personality into high office, reports the Los Angeles Times.
He experienced how swiftly a populist crowd-pleaser could go from harnessing rage to watching it ricochet in the wrong direction. Adoring crowds who reveled in his pledges to restore integrity and common sense to government turned on him when bureaucratic bloat failed to shrink.
Much of what is playing out in Washington feels familiar to the Sacramento politicos who endured the tumult of Schwarzenegger’s first years as California governor.
Schwarzenegger once seemed made of Teflon, as reporters called him out on inconsistencies, half-baked plans, and dodges, with limited effect.
Keeping lawmakers off-balance
And the deal that Trump announced to keep an Indiana factory open, his public shaming of Boeing for the cost of its Air Force One contract, and his serial use of social media to keep lawmakers off-balance all could have come from the early Schwarzenegger playbook.
But Schwarzenegger made early mistakes that gutted his popularity and forced him to reevaluate his entire approach. In California, there is no shortage of speculation about whether Trump is headed down the same path.
Trump’s confidants are well aware of the situation but they boast that they have a resilience that Schwarzenegger’s team didn’t.
Voters had agreed with Schwarzenegger on the problems plaguing the state, but he misjudged their appetite for his solutions.
Trump faces the same risk. His plans to deliver change by repealing Obamacare, cracking down on illegal immigration, and junking trade agreements all expose him to backlash.
Many of the same voters disgusted by the status quo in California redirected their disgust as they learned how Schwarzenegger’s plans threatened to degrade their schools, health care, and parks.
There are, of course, sharp distinctions between the two blustery, celebrity Republican outsiders. Schwarzenegger faced a hostile Legislature, while Trump has a friendly Congress.
Schwarzenegger plunged into Schwarzenegger University to learn as much policy as he could from some of the sharpest minds in California government, while Trump has yet to show himself much of a wonk.