New "Celebrity Apprentice" host Arnold Schwarzenegger told Americans who did not support Donald Trump need to "stop whining" and get behind the president-elect.
"Now he's elected, and now it is very important that we all support the president, and that we all come together and we stop whining and it becomes one nation," he told NBC's Matt Lauer on the "Today Show" Thursday morning. "It's not blue states and red states. It's the United States of America."
Schwarzenegger, the actor and former governor of California, who did not originally back Trump, was chosen as the host of the television program after NBC put the "Apprentice" franchise on hold after Trump entered the presidential race.
Trump, who had hosted the show since it launched in 2004, will remain an executive producer even as he takes office, and could be getting a portion of any product integration deals done for the show. Top Trump aide Kellyanne Conway told CNN he would focus on the show in his spare time.
Related: Conway on Trump 'Apprentice' role: He'll do it in his spare time
But Schwarzenegger said he, not Trump, will be in control.
"I always like to get advice but I don't think that he will have time," he said. "He made it very clear he has no interest in being involved.
"It is now my show. I am the host. I am the new boss. And I am going to run this show," he added.
Schwarzenegger said he was elected to California's top office because he was an outsider -- which is also why Americans backed Trump.
Schwarzenegger said one issue that continues to concern him about Trump is the president-elect's environmental stances. Trump has said "nobody really knows" if climate change is real.
"I'm an environmentalist," Schwarzenegger said. "It's one of the reasons I couldn't go for Trump."
"I wanted to make sure we're going into a clean environment and a clean future because that's what we did in California," he added.
Schwarzenegger said that if Trump truly wants to improve the country for all people, he has to reject party politics.
"Keep working with the other party." he said. "If you take people from both parties then you get 100 percent of the brain power."
"There's so much brain power in the United States. This is by far the smartest country in the world and the best country in the world," Schwarzenegger added.
