Arnold Schwarzenegger pokes hole in Gavin Newsom’s threat to stiff Uncle Sam

Former California Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger warned that incumbent Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to withhold tax payments could unleash the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Newsom made the threat in a Friday post on X after President Donald Trump floated the possibility of stripping federal funding from California over its sanctuary state policies. Schwarzenegger was on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” when host Jimmy Kimmel how the former two-term governor would handle Trump’s threat.

“How would you handle Donald Trump in this situation where he is threatening to withhold federal funding from our students, from our schools, from disabled students? We are a state that pays more to the federal government than we get in return from the federal government. Is it realistic, this idea that Governor Newsom has floated, that we would just stop paying them the money that we pay them?” Kimmel asked, with Schwarzenegger responding, “Well, it sounds always easy, isn’t it?”

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“It sounds it, but never is,” Kimmel agreed, with Schwarzenegger saying, “It doesn’t happen because every individual in California pays taxes, pays the state tax, local tax, and pays federal tax. So how are you going to stop them from doing that? Then the IRS is coming after you.”

Trump and Newsom also clashed over Trump’s response to the rioting in Los Angeles, with Newsom claiming Trump “commandeered” National Guard personnel and “chose escalation” in an eight-minute diatribe given hours after Democratic Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles declared a curfew for parts of the city five days after riots broke out when United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents carried out an operation at a Los Angeles-area Home Depot.

Schwarzenegger criticized both Newsom and Trump over their rhetoric in the debate.

“Look, I just want everyone to know, this is all dialogue. This is rhetoric. The left going after the right, the right going after the left,” the former governor said. “I mean, the bottom line is, they should get together, rather than always pointing the finger at each other. They should really get together and solve this problem because that’s what the American people want. They want to have this problem solved.”

Trump ordered 700 Marines to back up the deployment of federalized National Guard troops Monday as the riots continued into their fifth day. Video posted to social media Saturday showed an individual, who the FBI identified as Elpido Reyna in a Monday night post on X, throwing rocks at the windshields of vehicles containing federal law enforcement personnel with the FBI offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

Some Democrats demanded that ICE cease its operations in the Los Angeles area as a way to “restore order” in the city.

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