Watch: Schwarzenegger Terminates Jake Tapper’s Entire Argument Over Gerrymandering

Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger gave CNN‘s Jake Tapper a sharp rebuke after the anchor suggested that gerrymandering is primarily a Republican issue. 

“No, Jake. There has been gerrymandering going on for 200 years,” Schwarzenegger hit back, noting that both Massachusetts and New Mexico are prime examples of it.

“In a state like Massachusetts, it has like 40% of the people voting for Trump, they have zero representatives,” he said. “The Republican Party has zero representatives sent to the House. Think about that.”

In New Mexico, “45% of the people voted for Trump and vote Republican, and zero is sent to the House, zero representatives from the Republican Party,” he continued. 

NEW: Arnold Schwarzenegger claps back at CNN’s Jake Tapper, calls out “extreme gerrymandering” in blue states.

Tapper: “Do you believe that the Republican Party is starting this?”

Schwarzenegger: “No, Jake. There has been gerrymandering going on for 200 years.”

“There is such… pic.twitter.com/ovxGJ6ll8p

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 26, 2025

“I think when he – when they say this is temporary, there is no such thing. I mean, the longest programs are government programs that are temporary. Okay, just remember that if this is a tax program or if it is the redistricting program, anything that is temporary with government is permanent,” Schwarzenegger told Tapper. 

The former governor stepped back into the political arena in August to crusade against partisan redistricting, joining former GOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), donor Charlie Munger Jr., and state GOP legislators – in opposing a plan by California Governor Gavin Newsom to stage a special election this fall to bypass the Golden State’s independent redistricting commission so they can gerrymander mid-decade. 

The California plan would effectively nullify Republican redistricting in Texas.

“In the year 2032 when the independent redistricting commission is supposed to come back, they‘re going to say, ‘Wait a minute. There‘s still gerrymandering going on in Texas. There‘s still gerrymandering going on in Ohio. There‘s still gerrymandering going on in Florida. We have to continue with gerrymandering.’ This is what‘s going to happen. They will find an excuse. So therefore I don‘t think it is temporary. So that‘s total fantasy,” Schwarzenegger said. 

And of course, Tapper brought up that Arnold’s dad was a Nazi.

While discussing Senate Democrat hopeful Graham Platner’s Nazi tattoo and the leaked Young Republicans group chat, Tapper said: “The reason I bring [these controversies] up is because you have spoken so movingly in the past about your father‘s membership in the Nazi Party—denouncing it. What is your message to anybody in politics today embracing or praising Nazis or Hitler in any way?”

After a pause Schwarzenegger admitted that he didn’t “know anything” about the scandals, but said “I can just tell you one thing… Anyone that idolizes Nazis, it‘s bad news. Because we have been there before, and we have seen the outcome.”

“There are no winners, okay? It‘s that simple. And I think that‘s not the direction we want to go.”

Schwarzenegger’s father Gustav was a member of the Nazi party until he was wounded in the Battle of Leningrad in 1943.