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.
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. 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 upending trade agreements all expose him to backlash.