February 4, 2021

Trump Resigns From Screen Actors Guild Rather Than Face Disciplinary Meaures

Trump in 1989Renée C. Byer/Zuma

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.

Forget the United States Constitution. Former President Trump blatantly violated the constitution of the Screen Actors Guild, and the union’s disciplinary committee won’t have that.

The union wrote in a press release last month that a disciplinary committee would hear charges regarding “Trump’s role in inciting the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, and in sustaining a reckless campaign of misinformation aimed at discrediting and ultimately threatening the safety of journalists, many of whom are SAG-AFTRA members.” If Trump were found guilty, he’d face the most severe consequence possible: expulsion.

Trump may not have been willing to resign from the presidency, but the Screen Actors Guild? Pfft. In his words: “Who cares!” In a letter released today, Trump, still referring to himself as the president, declared that he no longer wished to be associated with the union—but not before bragging about his performances in Home Alone 2 and Zoolander.

Trump isn’t the first president to be a member of the guild. Former President Ronald Reagan served seven terms as its president and even managed to negotiate a residual payment system for actors. Too bad not all actors-turned-presidents could rely on the lasting respect of Hollywood.

Don’t just click away.

We need your help. We’re halfway through our Summer Membership Drive, and only $35,000 toward our $200,000 goal. But there’s good news: This week only, every donation will be doubled, up to $50,000, thanks to a generous reader.

That’s twice the impact for intrepid reporting that peels back the layers to publish the truth—and the context you need to break it all down. It’s twice the fuel for investigations on voting rights and justice, critical in this midterm election year. And it’s twice the power for exposing the chaos and corruption of a White House trying to control the narrative.

This is a pivotal moment in our nation, with democracy on the line, and we can only do this work because readers like you step up. Every donation, of any amount, makes a difference here. And every donation will be doubled.

We cannot do this work without you. Join the fight. Double your donation to defend democracy.

Don’t just click away.

We need your help. We’re halfway through our Summer Membership Drive, and only $35,000 toward our $200,000 goal. But there’s good news: This week only, every donation will be doubled, up to $50,000, thanks to a generous reader.

That’s twice the impact for intrepid reporting that peels back the layers to publish the truth—and the context you need to break it all down. It’s twice the fuel for investigations on voting rights and justice, critical in this midterm election year. And it’s twice the power for exposing the chaos and corruption of a White House trying to control the narrative.

This is a pivotal moment in our nation, with democracy on the line, and we can only do this work because readers like you step up. Every donation, of any amount, makes a difference here. And every donation will be doubled.

We cannot do this work without you. Join the fight. Double your donation to defend democracy.

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

INDEPENDENT. BECAUSE OF YOU.

Mother Jones has no billionaires calling the shots—just readers like you making fearless reporting possible

Donate