Arnold Schwarzenegger says it’s time for older Democrats AND Republicans to step aside for a ‘new breed’ of leaders after Mitch McConnell’s freeze and questions about Biden’s age
- Action star and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday that older politicians from both parties should consider stepping aside
- During a Wall Street Journal event, Schwarzenegger brought up the freezing incidents of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
- He wouldn’t go so far as to say 80-year-old President Joe Biden shouldn’t run for re-election, but said Gov. Gavin Newsom should run and applauded RFK Jr.
Action star and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday that aging members of both parties should consider stepping aside so a “new breed” of leaders can emerge.
Schwarzenegger, 76, was interviewed on stage The Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live Conference and noted that it was “hard to say” whether there should be an age limit anywhere, “especially in politics.”
But without naming names, the former Republican governor pointed to the recent freezing incidents of 81-year-old Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, noting that it was clear something was “going on” even though there was “a lot of rumors were going on that he was just thinking of something very complicated.’
“So people like that should start thinking about stepping aside and letting a newer generation step in and fill the vacuum,” Schwarzenegger advised.
The Terminator star then pointed to 80-year-old President Joe Biden.
Action star and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (right) told The Wall Street Journal’s Erich Schwartzel (left) on Monday that aging members of both parties should consider stepping aside so a “new breed” of leaders can emerge
“For a president to run again — he’s 81,” Schwarzenegger said, pointing to the age Biden will be on Election Day 2024.
Biden – the first US president to turn 80 while in office – will turn 81 on November 20.
Schwarzenegger wouldn’t go so far as to say Biden shouldn’t run again.
“It’s up to him, it’s up to him, I’m not going to tell him not to run,” he said.
“But I just believe that we need to look for the new breed in both parties, for the new race, for the new generation, the new generation of leaders, instead of trying to suppress them,” Schwarzenegger added.
Schwarzenegger, who called 77-year-old former President Donald Trump the “worst president ever” in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, has yet to endorse any of the Republican Party’s other hopefuls.
Speaking at the WSJ event, he encouraged his successor, Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom, to try to run for the White House.
Schwarzenegger drew attention to the freezing incidents of 81-year-old Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, but did not mention the Kentucky Republican by name
He also wondered whether 80-year-old President Joe Biden, who fell over a sandbag at the start of the US Air Force Academy in June, should run for re-election, but did not go so far as to say he shouldn’t do that.
Schwarzenegger, who was married for more than two decades to a member of the Kennedy clan, Maria Shriver, also had positive things to say about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential bid.
Kennedy, a prominent anti-vaxxer, announced in Philadelphia last Monday that he would leave the Democratic Party and lead the third party.
He does better among Republicans and independents than among Democrats.
Schwarzenegger said Kennedy, who advised him on environmental policy, understands both business and the environment.
“There are a lot of interesting characters trying to win,” Schwarzenegger mused.