Arnold Schwarzenegger, the disgraced, discredited, washed up actor who wrecked California as governor, came close to redeeming himself a little, with his beautiful nine-minute message to ordinary Russians, trying to tell them the truth about the Ukraine war. 

I love the Russian people. That is why I have to tell you the truth. Please watch and share. pic.twitter.com/6gyVRhgpFV

— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) March 17, 2022

It was an amazing piece — heartfelt, authentic, persuasive, un-spinny, and kind in tone.  What's more, it made a fool of Joe Biden, who courted his idea of youthful social media influencers to spout his party line, not realizing that a whale of a social media influencer with millions of followers and actual knowledge of Russia was sitting right there in the grizzled face of decrepit old Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

There was just one problem, though: the nasty short passage in Schwarzenegger's message beginning at the 3:09-minute point comparing Vladimir Putin's scorched-earth war on Ukraine with what he called the Jan. 6 "insurrection."

All the same stuff, right?

Aside from the obvious problems of it — its false equivalence of a crowd protesting election fraud that got out of control in Washington, apparently with some official complicity and blundering, and the queasy-making memories Russians themselves would have of their own protests against election fraud in Russia over the past decade — the comparison was irrelevant and gratuitous.

Why did he include that nonsense, which not only ruined the rest of the message like a turd in a punch bowl, but managed to remind many Americans that he had gone rotten on them?

Buried deep in the New York Times article about it was probably the answer:

The former governor's social media accounts have nearly 61 million followers, according to Daniel Ketchell, his spokesman, who said the statement was written by Mr. Schwarzenegger and his communications team and fact checked by retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, whom Mr. Schwarzenegger knows socially.

Formerly a top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, Colonel Vindman was a prominent witness in former President Donald J. Trump's first impeachment trial, testifying about a phone call in which Mr. Trump asked President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine for help with investigations against his political opponents.

Vindman is on a mission to discredit President Trump.  Ukraine and Russia are just his handy vehicles.  He was the de facto whistleblower, using a CIA pawn as a front man, and put on a big show for the cameras as he testified at President Trump's first impeachment.  The second one was a second shot from the same old disgusting crowd.  Since then, he's been involved with creepy groups such as the Lincoln Project in his monomania to Get Trump.

How Vindman and Schwarzenegger actually got to know each other "socially" is weird stuff, since the pair are hardly in the same social league and don't share the same geography.

It was such a disgusting little addition to an otherwise good video monologue that it's hard to think it wasn't put there for a purpose.  Schwarzenegger said, "I want to tell you the truth," but the truth was turned into a lie right there, and it may well lose some of the Russians he's trying to reach.

What a way to ruin what should have been a nonpartisan message.

It goes to show that rabid leftists, NeverTrumps, and the Washington swamp never stop in their guilty-conscience mission to Get Trump, meaning the likely purpose of this video may well have been to take a shot at Trump, discredit him, thus legitimizing Joe Biden, and worse yet, legitimize Biden's foreign policy blundering, which includes his Ukraine corruption machinations.  This is particularly so since the message was delivered in English, and Schwarzenegger is more than capable of delivering his message in credible Russian, even if reading from a transcribed script.

What a sad thing.  Arnie almost did something redeeming.  But then he did what the swamp wanted, letting Vindman get his rocks off instead of focusing on changing some minds in Russia.

Image: Twitter screen shot.