Actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger believes that as bad as the assassination of Charlie Kirk was, the underlying currents in modern America are even worse.
Schwarzenegger praised Kirk during a session with University of Southern California’s interim President Beong-Soo Kim that was posted to X.
“I was very, very upset that someone’s life was taken because they have a different opinion. It’s just unbelievable,” Schwarzenegger said Monday at USC’s International Day of Democracy.
Schwarzenegger noted the Kirk was a multi-faceted positive force whose live was cut short.
“This was a great communicator, a great advocate for the right — for Republican causes,” he said.
“He had such a great way of communicating with the students that agreed or disagreed with him.”
“It’s a human being. A human life is gone. And he was a great father, a great husband. I was thinking about his children. They will only be reading about him now, instead of him reading to them bedtime stories,” he said.
USC President Kim asked me for my thoughts about Charlie Kirk at USC’s Democracy Day celebration.
There’s something more important than my message in this video. It’s what you don’t hear. No heckling. No disrespect. No shouting.
I know that social media shows us the worst of… pic.twitter.com/pLgEFSLubA
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) September 16, 2025
Do you agree with Arnold Schwarzenegger?
Schwarzenegger said manipulation by the media and politicians sowed the seeds of hate now roiling America
“We have to acknowledge that the cause of all of this is the social media companies that are dividing us, the mainstream media companies that are dividing us,” Schwarzenegger said.
“The political parties — the Democrats that are dividing us, the Republicans that are dividing us,” he said.
“We’re getting hit from so many different angles, and we have to be very careful that we don’t get closer to that cliff. Because when you fall down that cliff — down there, there is no democracy.”
Schwarzenegger said the American people can overcome this challenge.
“The people can turn this around. The people have the ultimate power. And, so, this is why I recommend very strongly that people who say, ‘Well, what can I do? I’m just an individual.’ Each and every one of you in here can make a difference,” he said.
He called on student of different opinions to get together and be “an example for the rest of the nation and for all universities, how you get together, how you not see the other side as the enemy. Or to fight fire with fire, like they’re saying today. Or to declare war on each other, as they’re saying today.”
In a post accompanying the video. Schwarzenegger said there was “something more important than my message in this video. It’s what you don’t hear. No heckling. No disrespect. No shouting.”
“I know that social media shows us the worst of humanity, and a few people celebrating a death will get more attention than hundreds of respectful people. Don’t let these companies and the rage influencers that profit from them convince you the worst of us are the most of us. They are a tiny minority that gets too much attention because anger makes you post, repost, and like,” he wrote.
“This was an audience of almost 500 students, and zero disrespect. That’s how most of the real world outside of the internet is. If you find yourself falling for the anger, go out in the real world and make yourself human again,” he wrote.
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