Arnold Schwarzenegger compares the invasion of Capitol Hill to Nazis Kristallnacht

The former strongman, Hollywood actor and Republican governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, released a viral video Sunday morning in which he warns his compatriots by drawing parallels with Austria under Nazism.

Born in 1947 in Thal, Austria, Arnold Schwarzenegger was born two years after the end of World War II. "I grew up in the ruins of a country that suffered the loss of its democracy," he says.

In the video he describes his father as a remorseful man who, like other men who lived through the war, suppressed his problems by soaking in alcohol and taking it out on his wife and children.

"Not all of them were rabid anti-Semites or Nazis: many of them continued, step by step, along the way," the actor and former governor pleaded.

My message to my fellow Americans and friends around the world following this week's attack on the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/blOy35LWJ5 - Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) January 10, 2021

Comparing the insurrection on Capitol Hill with Kristallnacht 1938, when hundreds of synagogues and thousands of Jewish-owned businesses were destroyed in Third Reich Germany, Arnold Schwarnegger states that it "began with lies, lies and lies, and intolerance.

"I know that there is a fear in this country and around the world that something like this could happen here," he said.

"President Trump tried to change the results of an election, a fair election. He attempted a coup by manipulating people with lies," he continued.

Governor of California from 2003 to 2011, Schwarzenegger said Trump would be described as the worst president in U.S. history. He did not mince his words for the Republican elected officials who defended him, whom he called "column-less".

Anxious to send a message of hope in spite of everything, Arnold Schwarnegger, as master director, grasped the sword he used to embody the character of Conan the Barbarian in the movies, in order to compare the blade to American democracy.

Like a sword that becomes stronger each time it is dipped, hammered, heated and cooled, democracy becomes stronger when it recovers from the wars, injustices and insurrections that shape it, he imaged.

"I believe that although we are shaken by the events of the last few days, we will emerge stronger because we now understand what can be lost."

The Governator called for the unification of Americans behind President-elect Joe Biden, as well as holding accountable "those who brought us to this unforgivable point".

Released at 7:45 a.m. Saturday, the video had been seen by more than 10 million people on Twitter alone at the time of writing in the early afternoon.

Source : AFP