Movie icon and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger believes he would make an incredible leader of the free world if immigration laws weren’t standing in his way.
“I feel like I would make a great president,” the “Terminator” star, 76, confidently told the BBC in an interview published Wednesday.
“But I feel that, at the same time, everything I’ve accomplished was because of America. America gave me so many opportunities and the American people were so embracive, and they just received me with open arms. There was no one there that stopped me from my success.”
Schwarzenegger then alluded to the fact that the US Constitution requires presidents to be a natural born citizen.
“So the only thing that I can’t do, which is run for president, I’m not going to complain about that,” he said.
Schwarzenegger — who served as California’s governor from 2003 to 2011 — immigrated to the US at the age of 19 from Thal, Austria to continue pursuing his dream of becoming a world-famous bodybuilder.
Although he appeared content with the iron-clad laws, Schwarzenegger admitted he wouldn’t mind amending immigration rulings to allow him to slip into a future presidential race.
“I mean OK there is the constitution. We need some immigration reform, absolutely, to change that. But it would be a little bit selfish if I go out and try to change the law,” the Republican said.
While the “Commando” star has been candid about the toll his growing age has taken on his self-esteem, he didn’t appear discouraged that it would affect his dreams of becoming a US president.
He did, however, point to age as an unfavorable trait in 2024 candidates President Biden, 80, and former President Trump, 77.
The age of two party leaders has remained a heated topic throughout campaigning — with opponents relentlessly theorizing that both Biden and Trump would grow too frail to handle the job.
Schwarzenegger suggested that it might be time for his peers to step down from their political ranks to make room for a much younger generation.
“I just hope that America finds some really young blood,” he said.
“Because to me, it is a little bit odd that we are having a battle between people today in the late seventies and early eighties rather than people that in their forties and fifties or maybe even younger and have them have a chance at this great, great job.”