Campos-Duffy to Schwarzenegger: 'I was born free ... not waiting for a bodybuilder to tell me what to do'

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger received blowback for pointed remarks he made directed at critics of government-imposed coronavirus restrictions as he called mask-averse Americans "schmucks" and said "screw your freedom"  to those who seek to terminate COVID mandates.

"There is a virus here. It kills people, and the only way we prevent it is to get vaccinated, to wear masks, to do social distancing, washing your hands all the time, and not just to think about ‘well my freedom is being kind of disturbed here'. No, screw your freedom, because with freedom comes obligations and responsibilities" Schwarzenegger, a Republican, said in a recent interview alongside former NSC official Alexander Vindman on CNN.

"You cannot just say I have the right to do X, Y and Z when you affect other people. That is when it gets serious," the Austrian-American actor continued.

On "Fox News Primetime" Thursday, Fox Nation host Rachel Campos-Duffy addressed the "Terminator star, saying he should leave individual decisions up to the individuals.

"Can I say, with Arnold Schwarzenegger, I was born free," she said. "I'm not waiting for [Dr. Anthony] Fauci or some bodybuilder to tell me what I can and can't do."

Campos-Duffy said parents like herself are tired of "co-parenting with the government and the unions" when it comes to edicts like masking up youth in public schools.

In his remarks earlier this week, Schwarzenegger defended Fauci, saying that he is a 50-year "expert on how to build a bicep" the same way the 80-year-old NIAID director has been an expert on viruses. 

Fauci was first hired by the National Institutes of Health in 1968 and later appointed NIAID director in 1984 by President Reagan.

Schwarzenegger, 74, further compared masks to traffic signals, in that a motorist cannot simply decide he is not going to obey a red light, as he may cause a collision and hurt someone else. 

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"Yeah, you have the freedom to wear no mask, but you know something, you’re a schmuck for not wearing a mask," he continued. 

Campos-Duffy later said that Fauci and other bureaucrats cannot be relied upon for balanced information, adding that there has been ongoing forceful censorship of various aspects of virus mitigation, reported vaccine side effects and more.

Host Lawrence Jones echoed her remarks about Schwarzenegger, calling it "chilling" that a former head of a U.S. state would "speak so callously about the things that make America great."

Jones remarked that Schwarzenegger was one of few in the establishment who "said the quiet part out loud."