Watch Arnold Schwarzenegger Try to Unite a Divided America with One Powerful Speech
“We must not be enemies.”
The 2016 presidential election has caused plenty of tension from coast to coast, with protests breaking out in cities from New York to Los Angeles. Voter divisions can be seen in harsh rhetoric via social media on the left and the right. To some it’s a difficult moment in the history of politics, with old divisions threatening to widen from rifts to canyons. But not if Arnold Schwarzenegger has anything to say about it.
The Austrian Oak, The Terminator, former governor of California sometimes known as The Governator, who said he wanted to run for president this year, has posted a video in which he seeks to send a simple, powerful message: We—Americans—are not enemies.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about this quote from one of my heroes, President Lincoln,” Arnold says, before reading a quote from the Great Emancipator’s first inaugural address, in which Lincoln said in part, “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.”
“We are neighbors,” Arnold closes, “We are friends, and most importantly, we are all Americans.”
Whatever your feelings about politics lately, there’s something comforting in Arnold’s effort to remind us of what binds us. Words well worth hearing right now.
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