Terminator star and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has delivered a rousing speech defending democracy, warning people of the dangers of lies and intolerance.
Schwarzenegger, whose father Gustav was a former member of the Nazi Party, compared Thursday’s US Capitol riot by pro-Trump groups to the Nazis’ Kristallnacht. The actor then described his difficult relationship with his father , who he says was abusive.
“It was a night of rampage against the Jews carried out in 1938 by the Nazi equivalent of the Proud Boys,” he says on a speech posted on Twitter .
“Wednesday was the Day of Broken Glass right here in the United States.”
Not only had the mob destroyed windows, they also “trampled the very principles on which our country was founded”, Schwarzenegger says.
“I grew up in the ruins of a country that suffered the loss of its democracy,” the Austrian-born actor says
He says he grew up surrounded by those who “broken men” who participated in the Nazi regime “drinking away the guilt over their participation”.
“Not all of them were anti-Semites or Nazis. Many just went along.”
He says the rise of the Nazis started with lies and intolerance.
“We must be aware of the dire consequences of selfishness and cynicism.”
Despite weeks of warning, rioters were able to breach the heart of America’s democracy. (Source: Other)
Schwarzenegger says Donald Trump, who he described as the “worst President ever” and a “failed leader”, had misled people and sought a coup from his lies.
“I know where such lies lead.”
He also criticised “spinelessness” Republican politicians within his own party who had enabled Trump’s behaviour.
Schwarzenegger then showed Conan the Barbarian’s sword.
“Our democracy is like the steel of this sword. The more it is tempered, the stronger it becomes,” he says.
“We will come out stronger because we can now understand what can be lost.”
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