Arnold Schwarzenegger has staunchly condemned the Capitol riots last week and likened it to Nazi Germany.
Far-right extremists stormed the building in Washington, D.C., which saw four rioters and a police officer killed and dozens of people injured.
Advert
Arnie was one of many who watched in horror as America's political heartland was invaded by 'insurgents' who believed Donald Trump won the election.
In a video shared on social media, Arnie said: "I grew up in Austria. I'm very aware of Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass. It was a night of rampage against the Jews carried out in 1938 by the Nazi equivalent of the Proud Boys.
"Wednesday was the Day of Broken Glass right here in the United States.
"The broken glass was in the windows of the United States Capitol. But the mob did not just shatter the windows of the Capitol. They shattered the ideas we took for granted.
Advert
"They did not just break down the doors of the building that housed American democracy. They trampled the very principles on which our country was founded."
The 73-year-old explained what happens after the fall of a movement like Nazism. It was a story he had never shared publicly.
"I grew up in the ruins of a country that suffered the loss of its democracy," he said. "I was born in 1947, two years after the Second World War. Growing up, I was surrounded by broken men drinking away their guilt over their participation in the most evil regime in history.
Advert
"Not all of them were rabid anti-Semites or Nazis. Many just went along, step by step, down the road."
During the more than seven-minute video he also tore Trump to pieces and said history wouldn't be kind to him.
"President Trump sought to overturn the result of an election - and of a fair election. He sought a coup by misleading people with lies," Arnie continued.
"My father and our neighbours [in Nazi-occupied Austria during World War Two] were misled also with lies, and I know where such lies head.
Advert
"President Trump is a failed leader. He will go down in history as the worst president ever.
"The good thing is he will soon be as irrelevant as an old tweet."
That's a particularly savage burn, given that Trump has just been banned from his favourite social media site, Twitter.
He'd previously had tweets censored and a temporary suspension, but the company took the decision late last week to ban him for good.
Featured Image Credit: Instagram