Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Republican governor of California, makes a surprise announcement of his presidential endorsement

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Actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has endorsed Kamala Harris for president.

Schwarzenegger, a Republican who served as California’s governor from 2003 to 2011, criticized both parties in a lengthy post Wednesday morning before announcing he would cast his vote for vice president.

“Let me be honest: I don’t like any party at the moment,” he said Terminator actor wrote. “My Republicans have forgotten the beauty of the free market, running up deficits and rejecting election results. Democrats are no better at managing deficits, and I worry that their local policies could harm our cities through increased crime.”

“And I will always be an American before I become a Republican,” he added. “That’s why I’m voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz this week.”

The former governor continued to criticize Trump.

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“But a candidate who doesn’t respect your vote unless it’s for him, a candidate who sends his supporters to storm the Capitol while he watches with a Diet Coke,” Schwarzenegger wrote, “a candidate who who has shown no ability to work.” to pass any policy other than a tax cut that has helped his donors and other rich people like me but no one else, a candidate who believes that Americans who disagree with him are the greater enemies than China, Russia or North Korea – that won. “It won’t solve our problems.”

“It will just be four more years of bullshit with no results, making us increasingly angry, divided and hateful,” he added.

He concluded his message of approval with a call for all voters to cast their ballot, regardless of their preferred candidate: “Vote this week. Turn the page and leave this garbage behind. And even if you don’t agree with me, vote because that’s what we do as Americans.”

Schwarzenegger revealed he wouldn’t be voting red for the first time in 2016, when Trump was battling Hillary Clinton for the presidency.

“For the first time since becoming a citizen in 1983, I will not vote for the Republican presidential candidate,” Schwarzenegger said at the time. “As proud as I am to call myself a Republican, there is one label I wear above all else – American.”

He also condemned the deadly Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, and urged Americans to support then-President-elect Joe Biden, who legitimately won the 2020 election despite false claims of voter fraud by Trump and other right-wing figures.

“President-elect Biden, we wish you every success as our president,” Schwarzenegger said shortly after the violent attack. “Those who think they can overturn the Constitution of the United States should know this: They will never win.”