President Donald Trump joined his former Apprentice and The Voice producer Mark Burnett at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on Thursday.
And of course, the president couldn’t help making the event all about himself. There, he took a shot at Arnold Schwarzenegger, who took his place as host on The Apprentice.
Speaking to the crowd, Trump bragged about the “great success” he had with Burnett on The Apprentice and took a shot at the “big movie star” Burnett replaced him with.
“We know how that turned out,” he said to the crowd. “The ratings went right down the tubes. It’s been a total disaster. And Mark will never ever bet against Trump again.”
Then the president added, “And I want to just pray for Arnold if we can, for those ratings.”
Schwarzenegger responded, posting a video to Twitter along with a snarky rhetorical question “National Prayer Breakfast?”
“Why don’t we switch jobs? You take over TV, since you’re such an expert in ratings and I take over your job,” he said in the video. “Then people can finally sleep comfortably again.”
FYI: Schwarzenegger, once the governor of California, was born in Austria and is ineligible to run for president.
The National Prayer Breakfast? pic.twitter.com/KYUqEZbJIE
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) February 2, 2017
Schwarzenegger spokesman in response to Pres. Trump: "Arnold is praying that President Trump can start improving his own approval ratings." pic.twitter.com/6jQrgZLm8g
— ABC News (@ABC) February 2, 2017
Trump had previously taken to twitter to bash Schwarzenegger and the low New Celebrity Apprentice premiere ratings.
“Wow, the ratings are in,” he tweeted, “and Arnold Schwarzenegger got “swamped” (or destroyed) by comparison to the ratings machine DJT. So much for…being a movie star-and that was season 1 compared to season 14. Now compare him to my season 1. But who cares, he supported Kasich & Hillary”
The ratings for the first episode of the Schwarzenegger-hosted New Celebrity Apprentice were down 35% compared to the show’s premiere in 2015.
Although Trump takes swipes at the series, he has retained his executive producer credit and earns money off of the show.
Pres. Trump talks about The Apprentice at National Prayer Breakfast: "I want to just pray for Arnold if we can, for those ratings." pic.twitter.com/0oBhB82n6c
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) February 2, 2017
UPDATE: First thing on President Trump’s mind Friday morning? Arnold Schwarzenegger. Sad.
Yes, Arnold Schwarzenegger did a really bad job as Governor of California and even worse on the Apprentice…but at least he tried hard!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2017
