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Schwarzenegger's video speech: With Conan's sword against Trump and Co.
Right from the start he leaves no doubt that he wants to be the complete opposite of Donald Trump.
With his hair combed back, Arnold Schwarzenegger sits enthroned in a heavy armchair, the smell of leather that seems to fill your nose.
Behind him on the left the Stars & Stripes, on the right the flag of the state of California, of which he was once governor.
Compared to the Christmas and New Year addresses of the past few weeks, this seems like the address for a new age.
While Trump relied on pomp, aerial photography, helicopter flights and bombastic music in his cinematic self-presentations, Schwarzenegger at least optically minimalism.
Only three shots: It can usually be seen from the front, then from a somewhat greater distance from the left and towards the end a few times from the right.
Sounds simple, but in a deeply divided country where right and left are fighting each other as if they were in a civil war, it is quite a complicated matter.
When Arnie is shown from which side in this video should be anything but a coincidence.
First you can see him half-close from the front, the still strong shoulders are in the picture.
It starts off quite loosely, he wants to say "a few words", but then it quickly gets down to business with the English-German word creation: "Crystal Night".
At "Night" he briefly raises his left eyebrow.
That is enough to have the undivided attention of his audience here at the latest.
He immediately translates into "Night of Broken Glass" and tells of the pogroms of 1938. They were carried out by people who were the "Nazi equivalent of the Proud Boys."
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Schwarzenegger as Governor of California: the opposite of Trump?
Photo: Bloomberg / Getty Images
Less than half a minute has passed and the enemy has already been captured.
When Arnold Schwarzenegger talks about the "mob" who destroyed far more than window panes in the Washington Capitol last Wednesday, the first change of attitude follows to the left, you can now see the desk in front of him.
Something elongated lies there, Schwarzenegger's left hand rests on it, but before you can see it, you can see him again from the front.
Suspense!
What the hell was that?
Anyway, Arnie talks about his father and a generation of men who broke guilty of the Nazi crimes.
He's talking about people without a backbone - Republicans
He speaks of "selfishness" and "cynicism" and pronounces the words with a cutting edge that makes you shudder.
Trump has denied the result of the fair elections, says Schwarzenegger and briefly lifts his hands into the picture that he is the "worst president of all time."
But he's not interested in Trump, because that's history, "an old tweet."
Who he is really talking about becomes clear when he uses the most beautiful word of the entire address: "spinelessness".
He talks about people without backbones, supporters and members of the Republican Party, of which he has been a member for decades.
With one of the further changes in attitude to the left, one can sense what lies in front of him: a sword.
After the darkness there will be light again, he reassures, and at that very moment the first cut to the right follows, Arnold Schwarzenegger lifts the sword up and holds it in the camera.
It comes from the movie "Conan," he explains.
The full name of the film that made Arnie a star in 1982 was "Conan the Barbarian."
In a crazy, ingenious twist, he is now turning the weapon used in the film for revenge into the sword of democracy.
Anyone who tries to destroy it will only make it stronger, says Schwarzenegger.
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Schwarzenegger in "Conan": The weapon of vengeance should become a symbol of democracy
Photo: ddp images
The subtext of this moment could fill books.
Just a few key facts: The director of "Conan" was John Milius, a great screenwriter and director, but at the same time an extremely conservative man.
He described himself as a »Zen fascist«; his daughter made a documentary that tried to exonerate Trump in the Russia affair.
Now Arnie takes the sword, mythically inflated by Milius in "Conan," to separate the good from the bad conservatives with one powerful blow.
In the video message, Arnold Schwarzenegger presents himself as a great, wise man, as the grandfather of the nation.
But of course this is a deception.
Any Republican who sees the video should understand the secret but clear message: Arnie is the party's sword, and it will judge.
All the Trump supporters, who remained loyal to the President in loyalty to the Nibelung until the bitter, unworthy end, must reckon with the fact that they will fare like not a few characters in "Conan": Heads will roll.
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