Days After Pledging To End “Trivial Fights,” Trump Attacks Schwarzenegger Over “Apprentice” Ratings

President Claims Show’s New Host Was Fired

During his speech to Congress on Tuesday, President Donald Trump declared that, “The time for trivial fights is behind us.”

Less than four days later, Trump took to Twitter to continue one of his most trivial fights, an ongoing public feud with Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

“Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t voluntarily leaving the Apprentice, he was fired by his bad (pathetic) ratings, not by me. Sad end to great show,” Trump wrote Saturday morning. 

Schwarzenegger quickly fired back at Trump. 

“You should think about hiring a new joke writer and a fact checker,” he wrote. 

This week, Schwarzenegger announced he’s leaving “Celebrity Apprentice” after one season as host, blaming Trump for the show’s declining ratings. 

“With Trump being involved in the show, people have a bad taste and don’t want to participate as a spectator or as a sponsor or in any other way support the show,” Schwarzenegger told Empire Magazine. “It’s a very divisive period now, and I think this show got caught up in all that division.” 

Schwarzenegger added that “when people found out that Trump was still involved as executive producer and was still receiving money from the show, then half the people [started] boycotting it.” 

Trump remains an executive producer of “Celebrity Apprentice,” and the Washington Post notes that the show’s ratings had already declined significantly by 2015, the last season in which he appeared as a host.