Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger said “you’re a schmuck” if you don’t wear a mask, just days after photos and video showed prominent Democrats — from Barack Obama to Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) — partying indoors maskless.
“You cannot go and not put the mask on because when you breathe, you can infect someone else. And you can infect someone that then gets sick and may die,” the Terminator star and former governor of California said during a discussion with CNN’s Bianna Golodryga and Alexander Vindman.
“So this is why I think we all have to work together on this. The only way we can kick this virus is — again if we do like I suggested earlier about politics — you have to come together rather than fighting and always just saying ‘This according to my
principles, this is a free country and I’m gonna have the freedom to wear no mask,’” Schwarzenegger continued, and said “You have the freedom to wear no mask but you know something? You’re a schmuck for not wearing a mask” before adding: “I don’t want to villainize anyone.”
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“Screw your freedom,” Schwarzenegger said before going so far as to liken mask mandates to traffic laws. “You cannot say, ‘No one is going to tell me that I’m going to stop here, that I have to stop at this traffic light here. I’m going to go right through it.’ Then you kill someone else, and then it is your doing.”
The Legend of Conan star didn’t mention Barack Obama’s maskless birthday bash in Martha’s Vineyard, or a maskless Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) twerking on a crowded dance floor at a wedding party, or maskless D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) hobnobbing indoors at a wedding party just weeks ago.
Erykah Badu and H.E.R. turning up with Barack Obama at his 60th birthday bash. pic.twitter.com/cPfBU167PT
— Rap Alert (@rapalert4) August 8, 2021
She’s setting a great example by showing us all that we have nothing to be afraid of. Live your life. pic.twitter.com/LRxOyMFJsD
— Gina Bontempo (@FlorioGina) August 9, 2021
Schwarzenegger has pushed masks since the beginning of the pandemic. Last June, shortly after California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) ordered all citizens of his state to wear masks outdoors or in public places, Schwarzenegger said only an “absolute moron” would make masking political by refusing to wear one.
“This is 100% t he right move,” he tweeted at the time. “This will help us beat this terrible virus. The science is unanimous — if we all wear masks, we slow down the spread and can reopen safely. It’s not a political issue. Anyone making it a political issue is an absolute moron who can’t read.”
This is 100% the right move. This will help us beat this terrible virus. The science is unanimous – if we all wear masks, we slow down the spread and can reopen safely. It’s not a political issue. Anyone making it a political issue is an absolute moron who can’t read. https://t.co/N0FmCwDU5w
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) June 18, 2020
Though Schwarzenegger opposed President Trump throughout all four years of his tenure, his opposition took a turn for the extreme following the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill when he compared the day to Kristallnacht – the infamous “Night of Broken Glass” in 1938 when Nazis brutalized Jewish businesses and institutions.
“Wednesday was the ‘day of broken glass’ right here in the United States,” Schwarzenegger said in a video posted to Twitter. “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.”
