Politics

‘It’s Very Dangerous For Him’: Arnold Schwarzenegger Reveals His Thoughts On Gavin Newsom’s Recall Chances

(Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

Michael Ginsberg Congressional Correspondent
Font Size:

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s political situation is “dangerous,” Arnold Schwarzenegger told CNN’s Dana Bash on Wednesday.

“There’s millions of people out there that are dissatisfied, dissatisfied with the way the corona was handled, dissatisfied with the fires,” the former two-term governor said. Schwarzenegger compared Newsom’s election prospects to those of Gray Davis, who the action star replaced as California governor in 2003. Davis is the only governor in state history to be recalled.

Davis was recalled amid an economic recession and rolling blackouts, a political situation that Schwarzenegger described as “exactly the same” as today’s.

“The atmosphere is exactly the same (as) when I ran,” he said.

In addition to Newsom’s COVID-19 lockdown policies, which he has publicly flouted, Schwarzenegger cited the state’s trouble managing its large homeless population. California has the most homeless people of any state in the U.S., and the third-most per 100,000 residents, according to Statista. Advocates have cited the state’s refusal to build new housing as a key component of the crisis. The average cost of a California home reached $600,000 in 2019, more than double the national average, according to Bloomberg. (RELATED: Apple Pledges $2.5 Billion To Help Combat California’s Housing Crisis)

“I drive by homeless people every day when I go to Gold’s Gym and I talk to some of them. They’re angry the way they’ve been pushed around and they’ve been promised things and no delivery,” Schwarzenegger said.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 07: California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks to reporters at a “Vote No” get out the vote tour campaign stop at Mission Language and Vocational School on September 07, 2021 in San Francisco, California. With seven days to go until the California recall election, California Gov. Gavin Newsom continues to campaign throughout the state. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will be joining Gov. Newsom at a campaign event in the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Schwarzenegger also pushed back on Newsom’s messaging that his recall was spearheaded by “members of the Three Percenters — the right wing militia group, the Proud Boys… folks that quite literally enthusiastically support Qanon conspiracies.”

“Almost half of the people that are running are not Republicans. So it is incorrect to say to the people that it is a Republican power grab,” the “Terminator” star said.

California’s recall process is governed by a 1911 law proposed by Gov. Hiram Johnson, a progressive Republican who believed that voters should be able to remove an elected official before the official’s term ended.

Schwarzenegger won the 2003 recall election with 48% of the vote.

A FiveThirtyEight moving average showed a virtual tie between the keep and remove options for Newsom as recently as Aug. 11, but the governor has since opened up a 12 point lead.

“It’s very dangerous for him because you got to take this stuff seriously. For too long, they didn’t take it seriously. But now I think they do take it seriously,” Schwarzenegger said of Newsom’s polling.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel