People who follow reality shows may know the story. When Donald Trump threw his hat into the presidential campaign back in 2015, he had to drop hosting duties for his long-running show “The Apprentice”, and eventually actor and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was tapped to take his place. Trump was supportive of the choice and wished him well then. The winds seemed to blow the other way recently when now-President Trump decided to take jabs at Arnold for the not-so-impressive ratings of his hosting stint at the “The New Celebrity Apprentice”.
Boss Schwarzenegger decided not to take that lying down and tweeted his own challenge to his predecessor, triggering what looks to be an all-new feud between the two.
Political prayer breakfast
The collision, which has already seen an exchange of words between the two, came to a point on Thursday, February 2 on a National Prayer Breakfast in Washington attended by various faith leaders and presided over by Trump. Never one to keep quiet regarding any subject that could be tangentially connected to him, the President made commentary on the current TV ratings of the Schwarzenegger-hosted “Celebrity Apprentice” season on NBC, which really has been less than ideal – or “down the tubes” as President Trump describes it.
Using some of his favorite go-to words, Trump derided Arnold’s performance as a “total disaster”. With the show’s creator and Christian advocate Mark Burnett also in attendance and in close earshot, he declared with trademark repeated emphasis, “They hired a big, big movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to take my place, and we all know how that turned out.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Trump, at National Prayer Breakfast, talks about “The Apprentice” ratings and the time he fired his agent. pic.twitter.com/z93rGYvqqd
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) February 2, 2017
And owing perhaps to the fact that he was at a religious gathering of sorts, the President enjoined the assembled faith leaders to “pray for Arnold” and the rating, with a parting admonition at Burnett to “never, ever bet against Trump again.”
‘Why don’t we switch jobs?’
In the age of the internet news does travel fast, and within minutes Arnold Schwarzenegger had a tweet ready in reply to Trump’s heckling of his “Apprentice” season’s ratings.
Running just 15 seconds long, Arnold went out and dared the President to switch jobs with him, trump returning to hosting the reality show that made him a household name, and Arnold to running the country, “and then people can finally sleep comfortably again.”
The National Prayer Breakfast? pic.twitter.com/KYUqEZbJIE
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) February 2, 2017
The exchange between former and current hosts of “The Apprentice” elicited contrasting opinions depending on whose side the speaker is for.
Trump’s press secretary Sean Spicer assured the media that the President’s remarks were “lighthearted and beautiful”, while Schwarzenegger spokesman Daniel Ketchell espoused that the present host’s words were a call to Trump to fix his own approval ratings by “taking his job seriously and working inclusively.”
Trump remains an executive producer for “The Apprentice”, with the current season hosted by Schwarzenegger being 15th overall and eighth involving celebrity contestants.
