


Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger criticized the media and political leaders for the anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles during an appearance on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday night.
The actor compared today’s unrest to what the nation was like when he arrived in the late 1960s, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, and protests over the Vietnam War.
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“I have to tell you, people always say to me, ‘Oh my god, what’s going on in America right now?'” Schwarzenegger said. “I say to them, ‘Relax, I came over here in 1968, where it was a disaster.”
Schwarzenegger, a Republican who has repeatedly criticized President Donald Trump, condemned both parties for failing to address the immigration crisis. He noted reform has been an important political topic for decades, yet no solution has been fully made.
“The Democrats and the Republicans, both of the parties, have no interest in solving this problem because they use that to raise money,” Schwarzenegger said. “And so what they do is they just keep pointing the finger at each other, and then they’re surprised if all of the sudden we’re using our middle finger on them.”
Protests on this level wouldn’t be happening if politicians were doing their job, according to Schwarzenegger.
“I just get really frustrated, because we send these politicians to Washington to solve the problems, and all they are is — instead of public servants, they’re party servants,” Schwarzenegger said. “I think this is really the bad thing about it. It should all be public servants.”
He also blamed the media for exaggeration of the riots.
“They make it out like a war zone — Los Angeles, the whole city or the country,” Schwarzenegger said. “The fact of the matter is, it’s maybe 0.001% of the area of Los Angeles has problems, and there’s a protest.”
Schwarzenegger warned that the sensationalization of the riots could hurt tourism and public perception of L.A.
“I don’t want all of a sudden tourism to suffer in Los Angeles because of what they see on television, because the media sometimes shows it as if the whole of Los Angeles is a big war zone, which isn’t really the case.”
Schwarzenegger previously urged fellow Republicans to “choose your country over your party” in 2016, and reiterated that point on Wednesday night, saying politicians follow their party agenda, rather than for the public good.
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Schwarzenegger said that despite all the negativity and political battles, the nation will rebound because things have been worse — especially in Los Angeles.
“We will get out of this, believe me. This will be solved, this issue. Los Angeles will always be a great city to come to.”