Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t come to CNN to placate the usual media hand-wringers — he went on Jake Tapper’s State of the Union and called out California Democrats’ redistricting scheme for exactly what it is: a raw grab for power. Schwarzenegger told Tapper that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s claim the change would be “temporary” was “total fantasy,” warning that once politicians label something temporary it too often becomes permanent.
The former governor didn’t mince words about the moral rot of trading democratic principles for short-term political gain, calling the whole effort “cheating” and urging Democrats to stop trying to rig outcomes and start competing honestly. Schwarzenegger reminded viewers that he helped create California’s independent redistricting commission and that this proposal would gut that safeguard, handing mapmaking back to the very politicians voters rejected.
More damning, Schwarzenegger pointed out the obvious hypocrisy: gerrymandering isn’t just a Republican trick, it’s been a bipartisan cancer for generations, and blue states have abused it to silence millions of conservative voters. He cited examples where large Republican populations end up with zero representation — the kind of contortions that make a mockery of “fairness” when Democrats use it to cement their power.
This isn’t abstract theory; Schwarzenegger repeatedly slammed the proposal as a betrayal of the Voters FIRST Act and the independent commission he helped put in place — a move he called insane and a wasteful, self-serving political stunt that would cost taxpayers while ignoring real problems like homelessness and high energy prices. He’s right: money and attention are being funneled into political engineering instead of solving Californians’ daily struggles.
The exchange aired on State of the Union on October 26, and it was a welcome, hard-hitting moment that exposed how out of touch political elites are with the people they claim to serve. Schwarzenegger stood up to the usual media framing and refused to let Tapper turn the conversation into another lecture about partisan grievance instead of a debate about principles.
Make no mistake — this was more than a celebrity soundbite. It was a conservative wake-up call that even prominent Democrats’ allies can see when the curtain is pulled back: the left’s playbook has become raw power accumulation disguised as virtue. For patriotic Americans who believe in fair play and the rule of law, Schwarzenegger’s message should rekindle the resolve to fight any scheme that rigs elections and silences dissent.
If you care about honest government, don’t be fooled by the “temporary” label or the media’s spin. Vote No on power grabs that shred independent institutions, and hold both parties to a higher standard: win on merit, not mapmaking. Hardworking Americans deserve representation, not political theater.
