The Issue Is: Arnold Schwarzenegger is back
This week on "The Issue Is," an extensive interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
California’s former Governor sat down with FOX 11’s Elex Michaelson at two recent events.
First, the two met at AltaSea, the marine science lab at the Port of Los Angeles, where Schwarzenegger helped to plug in the final solar panels in a 4-acre solar array that covers the roof of AltaSea’s warehouse.
Days later, the two reconnected at USC, where The USC Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy hosted "Terminating Hate: Breaking the Cycle of Extremism." The conference, the latest effort by Schwarzenegger, himself the son of a WWII Nazi officer, to fight back against Anti-Semitism.
All this, part of a wide-ranging conversation that also includes discussions of potholes, the media, his upcoming book "Be Useful: 7 Tools for Life," his new Netflix TV series "FUBAR," his new pet pig, and so much more.
THE ISSUE IS: ANTI-SEMITISM AND GROWING UP THE SON OF A NAZI OFFICER
SCHWARZENEGGER’S CENTRAL TAKE: "When I grew, up no one ever talked about the Second World War, the atrocities about Jews or anything like that. So there was no prejudice talk going on, I just recognized very quickly that every time my father noticed something was Jewish related, that he had an attitude about it….
"[Alfred Gerstl's] son was working out, so I got to know him, and he always talked about, you know, the importance of inclusion. And then later on I found out, he never said 'I'm a Jew' or anything, but later on I found that he was a Jew, and he even became friends with my father…"
THE ISSUE IS: THE VIRAL POTHOLE CONTROVERSY
SCHWARZENEGGER’S CENTRAL TAKE: "At The Schwarzenegger Institute, I always tell students, don't just study and learn, also think about how can you actually make a difference. And so I wanted to show that always do that, a jump in there and try to solve a problem, whatever it may be…
"In this case, I just happened to see the gas, Southern California Gas Company, finished their work in January and they closed the trench there, perfectly. But, obviously, not perfectly enough, that when the next rain came in, washed it out, and the hole became bigger and bigger and bigger, and then all of a sudden I was riding down with my bicycle and I said to myself, 'Oh my God, I could have wiped out here.’....
"I called my buddies and said 'can you pick up some asphalt for me and bring it, I'm going to meet you at 10:30 down there, there's a trench and there's potholes. It was two of them.' I filled the trench. I filled the pothole with the asphalt, it took me 25 minutes. It was nothing and I just pounded it down and drove over it with our vehicles a few times and that was it. And then the misinformation started…"
THE ISSUE IS: ARNOLD’S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE MEDIA POST-POTHOLE
SCHWARZENEGGER’S CENTRAL TAKE: "Look, what do I care? Remember one thing, I always said I would never complain about the media simply because I'm a product of the media. Everything that I've ever done in my life to promote bodybuilding was through the media, to promote my movies was through the media, to promote my governorship and to run for governor was through the media. And now my work, my environmental work and all of this stuff, is through the media…
"I’m not going to go into it, because some people make some wrong headlines, that they're bad. No, I love you, I say to the media, I love you, I need you, you need me for your stories. This is a perfect relationship…"
THE ISSUE IS: CREATING A VISION, ONE OF HIS CENTRAL TOOLS FOR LIFE
SCHWARZENEGGER’S CENTRAL TAKE: "The most common things that I talk about when I give success speeches, is about creating a vision. I think one of the major, major problems that people have is they don't know where they're going. So, I always use an example of a sophisticated airplane, the most sophisticated airplane, but if the pilot doesn't know where to go, he's going to fly around, and fly around, and eventually is going to crash…
"It's the same as in life. If you have no direction, if you have no purpose, if you have no goal, if you have no mission, then you're floating around and you can never be happy, you don't even know why you getting out of bed in the morning. Why are you going to work? You maybe hate your job, 70% of the people in America hate the jobs, so that's not the way to go…
"So what I did as a young kid, was I created a vision, I said, I want to be a bodybuilding champion. Then I want to use this sport to get to America. And then I want to use his sport to get in the movies... and then I want to make millions of dollars and I want to become rich and famous. And all this kind of crazy goals... So I wanted to tell people it was possible because I had a vision and a dream, and that clearly I saw where I want to go, and this is one of the big recommendations that I have for people…."
THE ISSUE IS: ARNOLD, THE ACTION STAR, COMES TO TV FOR THE FIRST TIME
SCHWARZENEGGER’S CENTRAL TAKE: "You know, David Ellison came to me, he produced the last two 'Terminators' with me, and we get along really well, and he liked the way I worked. He came to me and he said, 'Arnold, I have an idea. I would like you to do 'True Lies,' but on TV, as an ongoing series. I said, 'well, that sounds great, I've never done a TV series before,' I said, 'but that will be a great idea.’…
"It’s just action packed, but also very, very funny, playing this action guy that is such a great CIA agent, but just like in 'True Lies,' when I come home, I'm a nobody, I only have trouble at home, with my daughter and with my son and my wife and everyone. Trouble. Trouble…"
THE ISSUE IS: STRIKING THE PERFECT WORK-LIFE BALANCE
SCHWARZENEGGER’S CENTRAL TAKE: "Well, you know, the saying "the busier you are, the more you can get accomplished.' So it's like, now I can take on more responsibilities because I have a very organized kind of a life. And, you know, the key thing is that you have good people around you, that's how you're able to do that, and I have a good balance between work and fun…
"It's so much fun to to feed the animals in the morning, all the different dynamics and all this stuff, and to have that and to travel around the world and to promote the environment, environmental conferences, to do speeches, to have the book being released, now, the promotional tour for 'FUBAR,' the TV series that's coming out…"
The Issue Is: with Elex Michaelson is California's only statewide political show. For showtimes and more information, go to TheIssueIsShow.com.