Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday that he did not vote for President Donald Trump because of the former real estate mogul’s pro-coal power campaign position.
“The reason why I didn’t want to vote for him is simply because just along the issue that he wanted to bring coal back,” he told CNN host Van Jones. The Terminator actor said he could not square his environmental advocacy with then-presidential candidate Trump’s promises.
“I say to myself ‘I’ve been fighting for clean environment since the time I’ve come into the governorship,” Schwarzenegger said, adding that he chided the president during a personal conversation for not being “a man of the future.”
The former California governor supported Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s presidential bid, in part, because of their mutual concerns related to man-made global warming. Kasich, a Republican, repeatedly used his belief in climate change during the campaign to create a potential point of difference between himself and Trump, who once called climate change a “hoax” created by the Chinese.
“We have 7 million people die every year because of pollution,” Schwarzenegger said he told Trump. “I told him that … Therefore, I cannot endorse you because you want to bring coal. The next thing you want to bring back is horse and buggies or Blockbuster or pagers.”
The actor took over hosting “Celebrity Apprentice” earlier this year after Trump vacated the spot. The former reality TV star spent 14 seasons as host of the series before announcing his bid for the White House in June 2015.
The former politician engaged in several Twitter fights with Trump over the show’s poor television ratings. Schwarzenegger, who left the show in February, told Jones he believes “what ticked [Trump] off is obviously the fact that I didn’t vote for him.”
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