Arnold Schwarzenegger opens up about painful childhood in video calling Trump a loser

Following the January 6 attack on the Capitol building that left five people dead, Arnold Schwarzenegger is the latest celebrity to speak out and condemn the actions of those involved. The former Governor of California specifically called out President Trump in his newly released video, which also included the film star recalling his painful childhood spent in a country that had experienced first hand the effects of democracy falling to unimaginable violence and tragedy.

On January 10, Schwarzenegger tweeted an almost eight-minute video that included the body builder, politician and actor seated at his desk. Flanked by American flags and holding onto a sword that was used by his character in 1982’s Conan The Barbarian, the video featured a gentle orchestral soundtrack that was worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster. Schwarzenegger’s theatrics may have been slightly over the top, but his message was emotional and powerful.

Schwarzenegger compared last Wednesday’s riot at the Capitol to Kristallnacht or Night of Broken Glass. Taking place in Nazi Germany in 1938, Kristallnacht was an attack on Jewish businesses, synagogues and schools by Nazi sympathizers and is widely viewed as a major catalyst of the Holocaust. After two days of riots, more than 91 people were left dead, 7,000 businesses were destroyed, and 30,000 Jewish men were sent to concentration camps.

"The broken glass was the windows of the United States Capitol," said Schwarzenegger, who also compared the white supremacist group Proud Boys to Nazis. "But the mob did not just shatter the windows of the Capitol, they shattered the ideas we took for granted. They did not just break down the doors of the building that housed American democracy. They trampled the very principles on which our country was founded."

Recounting his childhood, Schwarzenegger talked about growing up in post-World War II Austria, a country marred by the aftershocks of the Holocaust. Speaking about the "broken men drinking away their guilt with their participation in the most evil regime in history," Schwarzenegger revealed that his own childhood was plagued by violence delivered by his father, a police chief who volunteered for the Nazi party in 1938. In Sunday’s video, Schwarzenegger said his father often came home drunk and abused his wife and children, a history he has not shared publicly because of its painful memories.

"Not all of them were rabid anti-Semites or Nazis. Many just went along step by step down the road. They were the people next door," said Schwarzenegger, referring to his father and other men in his town. "They were in physical pain from the shrapnel in their bodies and in emotional pain from what they saw or did. It all started with lies, and lies, and lies, and intolerance,” he continued. “So being from Europe, I've seen firsthand how things can spin out of control."

In his video, which has already been liked over one million times, Schwarzenegger also called out President Trump, who incited last Wednesday’s violence and has continued to hold fast to his outrageous and completely false claims that he won the 2020 election. "President Trump sought to overturn the results of an election, of a fair election. He sought a coup by misleading people with lies," said Schwarzenegger. "My father and our neighbors were misled also with lies, and I know where such lies lead."

Continuing, Schwarzenegger called Trump a ‘failed leader, adding “He will go down in history as the worst President ever. The good thing is he will soon be as irrelevant as an old tweet."

Schwarzenegger ended the video by showing off his Conan sword and comparing its steel to the strength of democracy while also admonishing his fellow Republicans who have supported Trump. Throwing his support behind Biden, Schwarzenegger congratulated the 46^th president, adding "President-elect Biden, we wish you great success as our President. If you succeed, our nation succeeds. We support you with all our hearts as you seek to bring us together."

Some are criticizing Schwarzenegger’s comparison of last week's riot to Kristallnacht, an event that was much bloodier and led to thousands of imprisonments.

Schwarzenegger’s point that the events at the Capitol and the mob mentality that Trump has continued to encourage on a platform of lies and violence could eventually lead to an event like the Holocaust must be heeded. Although Biden received more votes than any other president in history, Trump also received 10 million more votes than he did in 2016, signaling a fractured US that remains severely divided on what kind of leadership is acceptable in 2021. In the words of George Santayana, ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’

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