Global film star and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger uploaded a powerful seven-and-a-half minute video to his social media channels on Sunday. It began with a history lesson about Kristallnacht and ended with him holding Conan the Barbarian’s sword.
Clearly channeling a pronounced rage from behind his desk, the professionally shot speech, which is set to music, begins with the Terminator star comparing the January 6 assault on the Capitol building to the 1938 attacks on Jewish homes, businesses, and houses of worship in, among other places, his native country of Austria. He also compared the Trump-supporting group the Proud Boys to Nazis.
He then got deeply personal, explaining how he was born into world made into physical and emotional rubble after World War II, and saw how the hate-fueled lies of politicians turned his father, and the fathers of his friends, into abusive alcoholics. “I heard it with my own hears and saw it with my own eyes,” he said.
With this level of understanding, he then turned his words toward Donald Trump, who will “go down in history as the worst president ever.” He accused Trump of “[seeking] a coup by misleading people with lies.” The longtime Republican also sneered at the “spinelessness in his own party.”
After this display of righteous anger, though, the naturalized citizen said that the America he loves will come back, and encouraged everyone to renounce “those who brought us to this unforgivable point” and embrace President-elect Joe Biden. He did this last bit holding “the Conan sword.” (He is, let’s not forget, a Hollywood film star.)
He then explained how swords grow more powerful, the more they are tempered. Wobbly dialogue, perhaps, but Arnold makes it work.
More Great Stories From Vanity Fair
— Inside Bridgerton’s Sexy, Modern Makeover of the Regency Period Drama
— Borat’s Maria Bakalova Had a Sweet Reunion With Jeanise Jones
— Tina Fey and Robert Carlock Wrestle Clumsily With Politics in Mr. Mayor
— Blazing Blonde Bombshell: Barbara Payton’s Boulevard of Broken Dreams
— Bryan Cranston Dances With the Devil in Your Honor
— Meet Bridgerton’s Dreamboat Duke, Regé-Jean Page
— Stephen Colbert Answers the Proust Questionnaire
— From the Archive: San Simeon’s Child
— Not a subscriber? Join Vanity Fair to receive full access to VF.com and the complete online archive now.