Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger compared the crowd that stormed the Capitol to the Nazis, calling President Donald Trump a failed leader who will “go down in history as the worst president ever.”
The Republican said in a video he released on social media on Sunday “Wednesday was the Night of Broken Glass here in the United States.” In 1938, Nazis in Germany and Austria destroyed Jewish homes, schools and businesses in an attack that became known as Kristallnacht or “The Night of Broken Glass.”
The broken glass was in the windows of the Capitol. But the mob didn’t just destroy the Capitol windows, they destroyed the ideas we took for granted, ”he said. “They trampled upon the principles on which our country was founded.”
Schwarzenegger, a native of Austria, compared the Proud Boys – a far-right American extremist group – to the Nazis. Some Proud Boys leaders were arrested in the nation’s capital before and after Wednesday’s riots.
In his video, Schwarzenegger called Trump a failed leader and said he took comfort in the fact that Trump’s presidency was coming to an end and “would soon be as irrelevant as an old tweet.”
He called for national unity and pledged his support to President-elect Joe Biden after gangs loyal to Trump invaded the US Capitol, temporarily suspending the electoral numbers. Members of Congress later returned and confirmed the results.
Five people died, including a Capitol police officer. Dozens of rioters have been arrested and many more are wanted for the brutal attack.
“And for those who think they can destroy the US Constitution, know this: you’ll never win,” Schwarzenegger said.
During the video, which lasts more than seven and a half minutes, Schwarzenegger compared American democracy to the sword he swung in his early role as “ Conan the Barbarian, ” which he said only gets stronger when tempered.
Schwarzenegger, best known for his film role as the Terminator, was elected Governor of California in a 2003 special recall. He was later elected to full term.
“I believe that, as shocked as we are at the events of the past few days, we will come out stronger because we now understand what could be lost,” he said, adding that those behind Wednesday’s riots – and those behind it that fuel them – will be kept. responsible.