Trump raps Schwarzenegger at National Prayer Breakfast
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump sought prayers Thursday for Arnold Schwarzenegger over ratings for “Celebrity Apprentice” — the show Trump once hosted and which he said has become a “total disaster” since California’s Republican former governor took over the franchise.
Trump harkened back to his days as a reality TV sensation during an address to the National Prayer Breakfast.
“When I ran for president, I had to leave the show,” Trump told the audience of more than 2,000 people. “They hired a big, big movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to take my place. And we know how that turned out. The ratings went right down the tubes.”
“It’s been a total disaster, and Mark will never, ever bet against Trump again,” the president said, referring to Mark Burnett, the show’s producer and longtime supporter of and participant in the annual breakfast. “I want to just pray for Arnold if we can.” Burnett introduced Trump to the audience.
Schwarzenegger responded quickly in a brief video on his Twitter account, in which he suggests that Trump switch jobs with him.
“You take over TV because you’re such an expert in ratings,” the “Terminator” star says in the video, captioned “The National Prayer Breakfast?” ”And I take over your job and then people can finally sleep comfortably again. Hmm?”
Schwarzenegger’s premiere night audience for his early January debut as the show’s host was a disappointing 5 million viewers, according to the Nielsen company. Viewership dropped to 3.9 million viewers in the second week.
The season-to-date average for the first month was 4.7 million viewers, compared to 7.6 million viewers for Trump’s final season in winter 2015.
Thursday was not the first time that Trump has criticized Schwarzenegger over the show’s ratings. Trump tweeted last month that Schwarzenegger was “swamped” in his “Celebrity Apprentice” debut “by comparison to the ratings machine, DJT.”