Donald Trump, the Home Alone 2: Lost in New York actor and former president of the United States, resigned from the Screen Actors Guild on Thursday in a letter that can only be described as outstandingly petty.
His resignation came after the labor union moved to expel him for his role in inciting the attempted coup at the Capitol, which resulted in five deaths.
In the letter to SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris, Trump name-checked several examples of his esteemed work in the theatrical arts, such as that one 1994 episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air he appeared in.
Here is the letter in full:
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.
In a very succinct statement from the union in response to Trump's letter, SAG-AFTRA said: "Thank you."
Trump's "you can't fire me, I quit" resignation comes just over two weeks after the union announced it was taking steps to revoke his membership for the same charges he'd been impeached for (which made him the first president to be impeached twice).
“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. “There’s a straight line from his wanton disregard for the truth to the attacks on journalists perpetrated by his followers.”
The union also said the move to expel Trump was a result of his "reckless campaign of misinformation aimed at discrediting and ultimately threatening the safety of journalists," many of whom are SAG-AFTRA members.
“Our most important role as a union is the protection of our members. The unfortunate truth is, this individual’s words and actions over the past four years have presented actual harm to our broadcast journalist members,” David White, the national executive director of SAG-AFTRA, said.