Arnold Schwarzenegger Dumps on Gavin Newsom’s Wild ‘No Taxes’ Idea in Mud-Slinging Fest With Trump
Arnold Schwarzenegger chalked up California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) suggestion that California could withhold federal taxes to meaningless “rhetoric.”
Schwarzenegger, a former two-term governor of California, joined Jimmy Kimmel on Wednesday evening amid immigration protests in Los Angeles. The protests have led to a war of words between Newsom and President Donald Trump as the president announced he’s sending in National Guard and Marine troops despite the governor’s objections. Newsom filed a motion for a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration.
Kimmel asked Schwarzenegger about Newsom’s suggestion that California could withhold taxes from the federal government, something the governor said in response to a report, citing sources, claiming that Trump is preparing a large-scale cut to California’s federal funding.
“Californians pay the bills for the federal government. We pay over $80 BILLION more in taxes than we get back,” Newsom wrote on X. “Maybe it’s time to cut that off, [Donald Trump].”
“Is it realistic, this idea that Gov. Newsom has floated, that we would just stop paying them the money that we pay them?” Kimmel asked Schwarzenegger.
The Terminator star said it sounds “easy,” but it’s a far more complicated idea than Newsom’s X post suggests.
“It doesn’t happen because every individual in California pays taxes, pays the state tax, local tax, and pays federal tax. So how are you going to stop them from doing that? Then the IRS is coming after you,” Schwarzenegger said.
The former governor argued the mud-slinging between Newsom and Trump is all “rhetoric.”
“I just want everyone to know, this is all dialogue. This is rhetoric,” he said. “The left going after the right, the right going after the left. I mean, the bottom line is, they should get together, rather than always pointing the finger at each other. They should really get together and solve this problem because that’s what the American people want.”
According to Schwarzenegger, neither side wants immigration to actually be reformed and solved because they can fundraise off of the divisiveness and protests.
“The Democrats and the Republicans have no interest in solving this problem because they use that to raise money and so what they do is they just keep pointing the finger at each other and then they’re surprised if all of a sudden we are using our middle finger on them,” he said.
Watch above via ABC.
