Yes, that is Arnie holding the sword he carried in the 1982 movie Conan the Barbarian.

That’s just one of the reasons you can tell he means business in a video he uploaded to his social media channels on Sunday.

The fact that he’s holding that sword shouldn’t detract from the seriousness of the topic he is addressing, which was last week’s attack on the Capitol by pro-Trump rioters.

In the video, Schwarzenegger compared the events of January 6 with Kristallnacht, also known as the “Night of Broken Glass”, when Jews and Jewish-owned businesses were attacked across Nazi Germany in November 1938.

The Republican, who held the position of governor of California from 2003 to 2011 (The Governator, obviously), also called President Donald Trump the “worst president ever”.

Tough to disagree with that.

Before you dive in, here’s a quick look at how things kick off via CNET:

Schwarzenegger shares memories of his father, Gustav, a member of Austria’s military police, getting drunk and then coming home and screaming at and hitting his family. The other fathers in the neighborhood did the same, the actor said, calling them “broken men drinking away their guilt over their participation in the most evil regime in history.”

It’s pretty hectic right from the get-go.

On Twitter, the video has close to 36 million views, with almost five million views on YouTube, too.

Take it away, Arnie:

I would rather not talk too much more about January 6, because the respite from writing about Trump these past few weeks during our end of year break was glorious, but it is worth touching on a few things.

First, via the Washington Post, how some Capitol Police have been suspended “for suspected involvement with or inappropriate support for the demonstration last week that turned into a deadly riot”:

Eight separate investigations have been launched into the actions of Capitol officers…

One video taken during the mayhem appears to show an officer wearing a MAGA cap leading a line of men in black helmets and body armor as they leave the Capitol to a crowd of applauding rioters…

The Secret Service indicated Monday that it was investigating an officer who posted comments on Facebook in which she accused lawmakers who formalized Biden’s win of treason and echoed Trump’s conspiracy theories about the rigging of the election…

It read in part: “Good morning patriots! Yesterday started out beautiful and as usual Antifa soured the mood and attacked police and an Air Force veteran was murdered….It’s OFFENSE time finally!!”

This just scratches the surface of the involvement of law enforcement, both on and off duty, that led to what we saw last week.

Via another Washington Post article, how Trump revelled in watching those scenes unfold:

But as senators and House members trapped inside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday begged for immediate help during the siege, they struggled to get through to the president, who — safely ensconced in the West Wing — was too busy watching fiery TV images of the crisis unfolding around them to act or even bother to hear their pleas…

Even as he did so, Trump did not move to act. And the message from those around him — that he needed to call off the angry mob he had egged on just hours earlier, or lives could be lost — was one to which he was not initially receptive.

“It took him awhile to appreciate the gravity of the situation,” [Senator Lindsey] Graham said in an interview. “The president saw these people as allies in his journey and sympathetic to the idea that the election was stolen.”

The Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund on the day, Steven Sund, who has since resigned, said his calls for help from the National Guard were rebuffed six times, before they were eventually called in.

Five people died on that day, and another officer has since taken his life.

This Twitter thread is also well worth a read:

My wife and I attended the “Stop the Steal” Trump Insurrection on Wednesday (as observers, NOT participants) and there are FIVE big take-aways from what we witnessed and heard outside the Capitol that I’d like to share. (We took all the pictures below). 1/22 pic.twitter.com/NTV7JTUXZa

— Terry Bouton (@TerryBoutonHist) January 10, 2021

There may be just days left of the Trump presidency, but the stain he has left on American democracy will linger for generations.

[sources:cnet&washpost&washpost]