Even Arnold Schwarzenegger, a high-profile Republican and current host of NBC's pre-presidential reality show Celebrity Apprentice, is baffled by Trump's Muslim ban insistence. Schwarzenegger told Extra TV Monday that he hopes the continued backlash comes as a "wake up call" for the current administration, an optimistic wish that now seems very unlikely:
Schwarzenegger, himself an immigrant from Austria, said the ban's problems stem from its disastrous vetting and subsequent rollout process. "I know what he's trying to accomplish—his fear about people coming in from other places, causing harm to the country," he told Mario Lopez. "There is another way to going about it to do it the right way and accomplish all of the goals. I think they were hasty with it."
The green card stipulation, a leading source of confusion during this weekend’s rollout, is particularly troubling to Schwarzenegger. "To go and ban people who have a green card, that means that the United States of America has given you permission to work here permanently and you are on the way to permanent citizenship," he told Lopez. "I was in that position…It's crazy and makes us look stupid when the White House is ill-prepared to put this kind of executive order out."
Former president Barack Obama also issued a response to the ban Monday, expressing support for ongoing protests across the nation. "With regard to comparisons to President Obama's foreign policy decisions, as we've heard before, the President fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion," Obama said in a statement via his spokesperson Kevin Lewis.
