Trump resigns from Screen Actors Guild in rant-filled letter after they threatened to expel him

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Donald Trump said he will resign from the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists after the group threatened to revoke his membership.

The former president said "who cares" to the group's threat, his comments following SAG-AFTRA's board voting "overwhelmingly" that Mr Trump violated the union's guidelines by inciting the Capitol insurrection.

Fox News received Mr Trump's letter, which was addressed to the president of SAG-AFTRA.

"I write to you today regarding the so-called Disciplinary Committee hearing aimed at revoking my union membership. Who cares!" Mr Trump wrote in the letter. "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 Lives, and of course, one of the most successful shows in television history, The Apprentice – to name just a few!" 

The former president made sure to get his shots in at the news industry, saying he "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".

Mr Trump continued by claiming the union was removing him as a way to gain free attention from the press.

"Which brings me to your blatant attempt at free media attention to distract from your dismal record as a union," Mr Trump wrote. "Your organisation 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?’"

Mr Trump was referring to a video from 2020 in which a number of actors, including Mark Hamill and Whoopi Goldberg, criticised the union for cutting its health plan.

In a "you can't fire me, I quit" moment, Mr Trump – who the union was going to expel – said "I no longer wish to be associated with your union" and that "You have done nothing for me".

Mr Trump joined the union in 1989.

SAG President Gabrielle Carteris previously had slammed Mr Trump for undermining the central values of the union.

"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," Ms Carteris said last month. "There’s a straight line from his wanton disregard for the truth to the attacks on journalists perpetrated by his followers."

SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director David White said that Mr Trump's actions were putting journalists at risk.

"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," he said. "The board’s resolution addresses this effort to undermine freedom of the press and reaffirms the principles on which our democratic society rests, and which we must all work to protect and preserve."

Mr Trump has been largely incommunicado since leaving office, due primarily to the fact that his accounts were banned on Twitter and Facebook.

Shortly after leaving office, Mr Trump launched the "Office of the Former President," which is essentially just personal letterhead made to look official and important. He issued a statement from his newly formed "office" stating that its purpose was for "managing President Trump's correspondence, public statements, appearances, and official activities to advance the interests of the United States and to carry on the agenda of the Trump Administration through advocacy, organizing, and public activism."

Mr Trump met with House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy last week in Mar-a-Lago. They reportedly discussed strategy for winning the House of Representatives back from the Democrats.

Otherwise, Mr Trump has mostly been golfing.