Who’s Meshuga? Arnold Schwarzenegger and Viktor Orbán – best buddies

Last December in the Polish city of Katowice, Arnold Schwarzenegger gave a brief speech about climate change.

In his speech Arnold called President Trump meshuga. The Yiddish word means crazy and the audience responded with applause. Arnold grew up in Graz, Austria as a son of a one-time Nazi party-member policeman. I don’t think that he heard much Yiddish at home. Many suspected that Schwarzenegger’s well-engineered comment was referencing Trump’s daughter Ivanka, who converted to Judaism to marry Jared Kushner. (Watch here the famous jab.)

Arnold knows how to play Eastern-European audiences. A hint of antisemitism goes a long way in this region toward promoting positive media coverage. No surprise that Arnold’s best buddy now is Viktor Orbán, the master of racist intimation.

Arnold and Viktor

For full disclosure, as a Californian I never voted for Arnold. He entered into politics and won the governorship in the 2003. In those days the state was in chaos; California’s broken electric grid and the ongoing “rolling blackouts” crippled the economy. Republican Schwarzenegger became the governor in what was only the second recall election of a state governor in American history.

Arnold’s political and personal life ended in disgrace. His wife left him after it was revealed that he had fathered a child with an employee in their household and his political approval rating hit all time low.

Now Arnold is trying to revive his political fortunes by courting right-wing leaders in Europe.

Another selfie

After visiting Moscow he called the Russian leadership “visionary.” In Vienna he met for a friendly chat with right-wing Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. The former Terminator is a frequent guest in Budapest. Last year he spent several weeks there due to a film project and in February of this year he joined Orbán in attending the Budapest funeral of film producer Andy Vajna.

Just having fun

Prime Minister Orbán hoped that the Trump administration will reward his early support with an invitation to the White House. Instead, the State Department in its recent Country Reports on Human Rights Practices has voiced serious criticism of his regime. Secretary Pompeo wrote: “Even some of our friends, allies, and partners around the world have human rights violations. We document those reports with equal force. Our aim is always to identify human rights challenges and use American influence and power to move every nation towards better, more consistent human rights practices.”

Today Schwarzenegger has little credibility. The aging muscleman will say and do anything to get media attention. In the meantime he is best buddies with Hungary’s authoritarian leader.

Shame on you Arnold!

György Lázár

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