US: Schwarzenegger offers Americans reprieve from Trump

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Amid an ongoing row with President Donald Trump, Arnold Schwarzenegger asked America's chief executive on Thursday if he would be interested in switching roles -- so Americans can sleep soundly.

"Hey Donald I have a great idea. Why don’t we switch jobs? You take over TV, because you’re such an expert in ratings, and I take over your job," the action movie star and long-time vocal Republican asked in a Twitter video. "And then people can finally sleep comfortably again. Hmm?"

The former California governor has been a repeated target of Trump's derision since he assumed the helm on the Apprentice television program. The NBC network parted ways with Trump amid popular backlash to his campaign trail rhetoric that singled out immigrants.

Most recently, Trump used a national prayer breakfast gathering to call out Schwarzenegger, joking that attendees should pray for Schwarzenegger's television ratings.

"We had tremendous success on the Apprentice," he said. "They hired a 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."

"I want to just pray for Arnold, if we can, for those ratings," he said to laughter.

A Schwarzenegger spokesman said in a statement the movie star is "praying that President Trump can start improving his own approval ratings, which were the worst in history for an incoming President, by taking his job seriously and working inclusively".