In CNN interview, Schwarzenegger criticizes Trump for calling climate change a ‘con job’

Arnold Schwarzenegger talks to CNN on Wednesday, Sept. 24. (CNN via CNN Newsource)

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday criticized U.S. President Donald Trump’s remarks at the UN General Assembly that the scientific consensus about climate change was a “scam” and “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.”

“Well, I’m not surprised that he said that,” Schwarzenegger told CNN in an exclusive interview.

Schwarzenegger said he was friendly with Trump before he ran for president in 2016. When Trump asked Schwarzenegger to endorse his campaign, Schwarzenegger considered doing so. But, he ultimately told Trump he couldn’t because of Trump’s views about climate issues.

“The bottom line is that he just never believed in it,” Schwarzenegger said. “And to me, I said to myself, ‘OK, then I cannot really go and be on his team.’”

Speaking to CNN’s Elex Michaelson alongside former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Schwarzenegger emphasized his commitment to fighting climate change and said that Americans could lead on the issue without the president’s support.

“I’m a big believer that we have to do something about reducing pollution and we have to do something about, you know, having people die,” he said. “I felt very strongly about what the way I was thinking, and I totally understand that not everyone has to think like me. But what is important is that we let people know, okay, so that’s how our president feels. But that doesn’t mean we should stop everything.”

The World Health Organization estimates that climate change will cause an additional 250,000 deaths a year between 2030 and 2050.

Schwarzenegger’s Climate Initiative and Tony Blair Institute for Global Change co-hosted a gathering in New York for Climate Week NYC.

Schwarzenegger said it’s important to change how these issues are communicated to the public. For example, he said, instead of talking about “climate change,” there should be a discussion about “fighting pollution.”

The former Republican governor of California and Trump have clashed repeatedly in recent years, dating back to Schwarzenegger’s decision in 2017 to leave “The New Celebrity Apprentice,” the renamed version of the TV franchise he took when Trump left to pursue his political career. Schwarzenegger has been an outspoken critic of the president, condemning his actions around the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. He endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in 2024.

Schwarzenegger also weighed in on the consequential fight over redistricting in his home state, calling it a “big mistake” to redraw the state’s congressional lines.

When Schwarzenegger served as California governor, voters backed initiatives in 2008 and 2010 to create a nonpartisan, independent citizens’ commission to draw the congressional lines instead of the legislature.

This summer, Republicans in Texas passed a redistricting plan at Trump’s behest that could give the GOP a better chance at winning as many as five additional seats in next year’s midterms.

In response, California Democrats passed legislation backed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom calling for a special election this fall. Voters will be asked to consider a proposed constitutional amendment to override the lines drawn by the state’s independent redistricting commission. The measure says the independent redistricting commission would resume in 2031.

“It’s a big mistake to go and to dismantle – to basically kind of get rid of the independent redistricting commission under the auspices of, we got to have more power than the Republicans, and we gotta fight Trump,” Schwarzenegger said. “Because yes, they are fixing the elections in Texas, but that does not mean that California should fix the elections because of that. Two wrongs don’t make a right. It’s that simple.”

Schwarzenegger doesn’t believe the change will be “temporary” as Newsom has promised.

“Whenever the politicians say that we only doing this temporarily with the redistricting commission, we did independent one, there’s no such thing with politicians. And temporarily, have you ever seen a tax that stopped when they say this is just temporary? It is permanent,” he said.

Megadonors have opened their wallets for the California redistricting fight, including billionaire liberal financier George Soros, a supporter, and Charlie Munger Jr., the son of the famed investor, an opponent.

“We have so many homeless people in California and they’re – they cannot do anything about it. But they’re spending $200 million on a special election. I would rather give this money to the homeless people that really need it, rather than to the politicians,” he said.

Schwarzenegger himself has featured prominently in the “No” campaign. As California Democrats embarked on their push, he shared a picture of himself on social media at a bench press, wearing a shirt with the caption, “F*** the politicians, terminate gerrymandering,” with the message, “I’m getting ready for the gerrymandering battle.”

A leading committee opposing the bill clipped video from one of Schwarzenegger’s appearances at the University of Southern California and turned it into a TV ad, currently running in heavy rotation in state markets.

Schwarzenegger said he does not currently have plans to formally campaign across the state or cut additional ads.

By Elex Michaelson, David Wright, CNN