Trump Quits SAG-AFTRA Union, Saying 'Who Cares?'

LOS ANGELES, CA — On the same day that SAG Award winners were announced, former president Donald Trump sent the guild a caustic resignation letter.

"I no longer wish to be associated with your union," Trump wrote in a letter he still signed as "President Donald J. Trump." "As such, this letter is to inform you of my immediate resignation from SAG-AFTRA. You have done nothing for me."

SAG-AFTRA issued an unusually brief statement after receiving Trump's letter: "Thank you."
The union announced Jan. 19 that they planned to hold a hearing on whether to expel the former president, who has been a member since 1989. In the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, union president Gabrielle Carteris initiated charges that Trump had promoted misinformation that placed some SAG-AFTRA members in danger.

"Donald Trump attacked the values that this union holds most sacred - democracy, truth, respect for our fellow Americans of all races and faiths, and the sanctity of the free press," Carteris said in a January statement. "There's a straight line from his wanton disregard for the truth to the attacks on journalists perpetrated by his followers."

If Trump hadn't beaten the union to the punch, charges would have gone to a disciplinary hearing later this months, which could have imposed fines, sanctions, or an expulsion.

An expulsion would not prevent Trump from appearing in future film and television projects, but it would signal industrywide disapproval for a man who starred in his own reality show and appeared in several films and TV shows over the years.

Membership in the union, which requires an initial fee of $3,000 ad an annual base cost of $222.96 and work dues, provides industry professionals with options for collective bargaining, health insurance, a pension plan, a credit union, an online casting database, and more, according to the union website.

In his letter, Trump accused the union of doing "little for its members" besides "collecting dues and promoting dangerous un-American policies and ideas." The full text of his letter reads as follows:

"Ms. Carteris:

I write to you today regarding the so-called Disciplinary Committee hearing aimed at revoking my union membership. Who cares!

While I’m not familiar with your work, I’m very proud of my work on movies such as Home Alone 2, Zoolander and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps; and television shows including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Saturday Night Live, and of course, one of the most successful shows in television history, The Apprentice – to name just a few!

I’ve also greatly helped the cable news television business (said to be a dying platform with not much time left until I got involved in politics), and created thousands of jobs at networks such as MSDNC and Fake News CNN, among many others.

Which brings me to your blatant attempt at free media attention to distract from your dismal record as a union. Your organization has done little for its members, and nothing for me – besides collecting dues and promoting dangerous un-American policies and ideas – as evident by your massive unemployment rates and lawsuits from celebrated actors, who even recorded a video asking, “Why isn’t the union fighting for me?”

These, however, are policy failures. Your disciplinary failures are even more egregious.
I no longer wish to be associated with your union.

As such, this letter is to inform you of my immediate resignation from SAG-AFTRA. You have done nothing for me.

Regards,

President Donald J. Trump"