President Trump kicked off the National Prayer Breakfast Thursday morning by asking everyone to pray for former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, saying “The Celebrity Apprentice” host has suffered lower ratings since replacing him on the reality TV show.
The “Terminator” star quickly shot back by suggesting that he and Trump switch jobs “so people can finally sleep comfortably again.”
Trump began his speech at the annual Washington D. C. religious event by prioritizing prayer for Schwarzenegger, who took over the NBC reality competition show after Trump, who is still an executive producer on the program, did 186 episodes.
“They hired a big, big movie star — Arnold Schwarzenegger — to take my place. And we know how that turned out,” Trump said. “The ratings went right down the tubes. It’s been a total disaster… I want to just pray for Arnold if we can.”
Schwarzenegger took to Twitter to respond in a video.
“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, and then people can finally sleep comfortably again, hm?”
Schwarzenegger can not run for president, because he is not a natural born U. S. citizen.
When Schwarzenegger was first named the new Celebrity Apprentice host in September 2015, Trump, a presidential candidate at the time, tweeted, “ Congrats to my friend @Schwarzenegger who is doing next season’s Celebrity Apprentice. He’ll be great & will raise lots of $ for charity.”
Since then, he has criticized the ratings drop, most notably on Jan. 6, when he tweeted Schwarzenegger got “swamped” but that he, “DJT” was a “ratings machine.”
Schwarzenegger responded: “I wish you the best of luck and I hope you’ll work for ALL of the American people as aggressively as you worked for your ratings.”
As far as presidential approval ratings go , President Trump has made history. The most recent Gallup poll places him around a 45 percent approval rating, well below the average for an elected presidents’ first quarter, which is 63 percent.
Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno
