Schwarzenegger rips Trump: ‘Defending gerrymandering’ won’t drain the swamp

Arnold Schwarzenegger fired back at President Trump on Tuesday after Trump encouraged Pennsylvania Republicans to challenge the state’s new court-issued congressional map.

The former Republican California governor, who has been an outspoken voice against gerrymandering, criticized the president for “defending” the practice after Pennsylvania’s old map was thrown out.

If you really want to drain the swamp, you don’t do it by defending gerrymandering, which allows politicians to rig the system by picking their voters & ensures that 97% of Congress gets re-elected despite having an approval rating worse than Herpes. #FairMaps https://t.co/8e6RnzrdK9

— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) February 20, 2018

The action star once called gerrymandering “one of the biggest scams politicians have ever pulled on the American people.”

{mosads}Earlier Tuesday, Trump took to Twitter to push Pennsylvania GOP lawmakers to take their challenge of the new map “all the way to the Supreme Court.”

Pennsylvania lawmakers have been embroiled in a legal battle over congressional district lines for weeks. The state Supreme Court ruled last month that the previous congressional map was unfairly drawn in favor of Republicans and must be redrawn.

The court issued a new map on Monday.

Hope Republicans in the Great State of Pennsylvania challenge the new “pushed” Congressional Map, all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary. Your Original was correct! Don’t let the Dems take elections away from you so that they can raise taxes & waste money!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2018

State Republicans requested that the U.S. Supreme Court stay the decision, but that request was rejected. GOP officials are suing in federal court in a challenge to the new map.