One theory about President Donald Trump’s ongoing fixation with Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor and former California governor, who succeeded him as the host of “Celebrity Apprentice,” has to do with Trump being angered that the show’s producers passed over his daughter Ivanka for the hosting gig.
But Schwarzenegger has an alternative hypothesis to explain the animus from POTUS: “I think he’s in love with me,” he told SiriusXM host Michael Smerconish in an interview that aired Tuesday.
He didn’t elaborate, and his delivery – if it was meant as a joke – was pretty deadpan. Trump has a long history of trolling the former bodybuilder, most recently tweeting that Schwarzenegger’s departure from “Celebrity Apprentice” wasn’t voluntary. Schwarzenegger has clapped back at the president, once tweeting, “I hope you’ll work for ALL of the American people as aggressively as you worked for your ratings.”
This dynamic, of taunting the people we secretly have a crush on, is typically left behind in middle school – but then again, as Oscar Wilde wrote, “Each man kills the thing he loves.”