Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast Thursday morning, President Donald Trump requested the audience’s thoughts and prayers—for his Apprentice replacement Arnold Schwarzenegger. And Arnold refused to take the insult sitting down.
With Apprentice producer Mark Burnett looking on, Trump poked fun at the new reality television host. “When I ran for president I had to leave the [“Apprentice”], Trump said. “And they hired a big, big movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger to take my place.”
“And we know how that turned out,” he went on. “The ratings went right down the tubes, it’s been a total disaster. And Mark will never, ever bet against Trump again…I want to just pray for Arnold if we can — for those ratings.”
But while he might have taken Trump’s job, Schwarzenegger certainly wasn’t interested in taking Trump’s insults. Armed with his Twitter account and a phone camera, Schwarzenegger quickly responded by suggesting the two switch jobs again.
The National Prayer Breakfast? pic.twitter.com/KYUqEZbJIE
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) February 2, 2017
“Hey Donald, I have a great idea: Why don’t we switch jobs?” Schwarzenegger says in the video. “You take over TV because you’re such an expert in ratings, and I take over your job, so then people can finally sleep comfortably again.”
As if that wasn’t enough, Schwarzenegger also released a statement through his spokesperson, telling Trump to get back to work.
Schwarzenegger spokesman in response to Pres. Trump: "Arnold is praying that President Trump can start improving his own approval ratings." pic.twitter.com/OHseIHzoeh
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) February 2, 2017
At least, for Trump’s sake, he didn’t challenge him to an actual fight.