Arnold Schwarzenegger has a message for Donald Trump.
Actually, Arnold Schwarzenegger has a few messages for Donald Trump.
Just hours after the President-Elect went on one of his typical Twitter storms – slamming Schwarzenegger as a has-been due to the poor ratings for this week’s Celebrity Apprentice premiere – the ex-movie star has fired back.
Hard.
The NBC reality show returned on Monday night to 4.9 million total viewers, along with a 1.3 rating in the key demographic of adults 18-49.
The previous season premiere, which was hosted by Trump and aired back in January 2015, garnered 6.8 million viewers and earned a 2.4 in this same under age category.
That’s a pretty huge dropoff.
And it’s one The Donald took pointed notice of on social media.
“Wow, the ratings are in and Arnold Schwarzenegger got ‘swamped’ (or destroyed) by comparison to the ratings machine, DJT,” Trump tweeted on Friday, morning.
Added the impending President of the United States:
“So much for being a movie star-and that was season 1 compared to season 14. Now compare him to my season 1. But who cares, he supported Kasich & Hillary.”
In this case, at least, we have to give Trump credit:
He got his numbers right.
This rarely happens when it comes to Trump on Twitter.
Schwarzenegger, the former Republican Governor of California, has never been one to back down from a fight, however.
So he quickly jumped on social media and took Trump down with a couple piece of advice.
“There’s nothing more important that the people’s work, @realDonaldTrump,.
“I wish you the best of luck and I hope you’ll work for ALL of the American people as aggressively as you worked for your ratings.”
Damn! Shots fired!
And Schwarzenegger wasn’t finished, either.
“Please study this quote from [Abraham] Lincoln’s inaugural, @realDonald Trump,” he wrote. “It inspired me every day I was Governor, and I hope it inspires you.”
Schwarzenegger then went ahead and read the quote in a video. This is what it says:
We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.
The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
Without doubt, these profound, helpful words will turn Trump around and he’ll focus entirely on governing the country, sympathizing with all Americans and doing everything he can actually make this country better.
Darn. We almost did it.
We almost wrote that entire paragraph with a straight face.
It’s worth noting that Trump is an executive producer on The Apprentice.
This is ridiculous, yet it’s true.
It means he actually makes money if you watch the show, which could explain why he’s so bitter over these terrible ratings.
The guy is clearly in need of money. A lot of money. He may owe Russia hundreds of millions of dollars.
Expect Vladimir Putin to hack into the NBC ratings database any day now.