United States President Donald Trump hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15. The nearly three-hour summit ended without a ceasefire or formal agreement, though Trump called it ‘very productive.’ No clear progress emerged on the conflict with Ukraine and Putin gained public relations momentum.
In the above context, a video is being widely shared on social media in which actor-turned-politician Arnold Schwarzenegger was seen taking a jibe at Trump.
He is heard saying, “President Trump, I just saw your press conference with President Putin, and it was embarrassing. I mean, you stood there like a little wet noodle, like a little fanboy. I mean, I was asking myself, when are you going to ask him for an autograph or a selfie or something like that? I mean, you literally sold out that this press conference, our intelligence, community, our justice system, and worst of all, our country. You’re the president of the United States and you shouldn’t do that. I mean, what’s the matter with you? I mean, whatever happened to the strong words or to the strength of Ronald Reagan when he stood there at the Berlin Wall and he said 'Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!' What happened to all that?”
The video was shared with a caption suggesting that Arnold shared that video after Trump met Putin in August.
A social media user shared the video with a caption that reads, “Arnold Schwarzenegger eviscerated Trump for his pathetic submission to Putin — and he’s right. ‘Mr. President Trump, you stood there like a little white noodle, like a fanboy.’ While Ukraine is invaded, its people are slaughtered, Trump grovels before a dictator. That isn’t leadership. It’s betrayal. #DemsUnited”
SouthCheck found that the claim is misleading. The viral video is from 2018.
On a Google reverse image search, we found that the same video was shared by Arnold Schwarzenegger on his Instagram account on July 17, 2018, with a caption that reads, “President Trump, remember, America first.”
We further found that the same video was also shared by NBC News on July 18, 2018. The video was shared with a caption that reads, “The actor and Republican former governor of California said President Trump was ‘embarrassing’ at his Helsinki news conference with Putin.”
Taking a hint, we searched with appropriate keywords and found that TIME magazine had also reported about it on July 17, 2018.
According to the report, Arnold’s remark was a direct response to Donald Trump’s press conference with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland. During the July 2018 appearance, Trump notably seemed to accept Putin’s denial of Russian interference in the 2016 US election, despite US intelligence agencies affirming otherwise.
Therefore, we can ascertain that the viral claim is misleading.
