President Trump and Arnold Schwarzenegger have been embroiled in a long-distance feud after the president used the solemn occasion of the National Pra
President Trump and Arnold Schwarzenegger have been embroiled in a long-distance feud after the president used the solemn occasion of the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington to taunt the actor about his reality show ratings. Trump called ‘The New Celebrity Apprentice’, the latest incarnation of the NBC reality franchise that catapulted Trump to national stardom, a total disaster.
“They hired a big, big movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to take my place, and we know how that turned out,” Trump said, as Mark Burnett, the ‘Apprentice’ creator who has become an active champion of Christian causes, listened a few feet away.
“The ratings went right down the tubes,” Mr. Trump continued. “Mark will never, ever bet against Trump again. And I want to just pray for Arnold, if we can, for those ratings.”
Schwarzenegger has since fired back in a 15 second video he posted on his Twitter account.
“Hey Donald, I have a great idea, why don’t we switch jobs?” said Mr. Schwarzenegger.
“You take over TV, because you’re such an expert in ratings, and I take over your job. And then people can finally sleep comfortably again,” Schwarzenegger added, with an impish grin.
It was not Trump’s first jab at Mr. Schwarzenegger, whose debut as ‘Apprentice’ host last month earned a rough review from the television critic-in-chief.
“Wow, the ratings are in and Arnold Schwarzenegger got ‘swamped’ (or destroyed) by comparison to the ratings machine,” Trump tweeted in January.
That prompted Schwarzenegger to post a video of himself reading from Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address.
“I wish you the best of luck and I hope you’ll work for ALL of the American people as
Trump, who remains a paid executive producer of ‘The New Celebrity Apprentice’ is an avid tracker of Nielsen numbers; he framed a Variety ratings chart from the first season of ‘The Apprentice’ and hung it in his Trump Tower office. When NBC created a version of ‘The Apprentice’ with Martha Stewart in 2005, Trump routinely called television journalists to point out Stewart’s lackluster numbers.
