Throughout a Sept. 21 marketing campaign occasion in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz claimed President Ronald Reagan was “the final union member on a nationwide ticket.”
Verdict: False
Former President Donald Trump was a member of the Display screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Tv and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) union till he resigned from the union in 2021.
Reality Test:
Walz and Ohio Republican Sen. JD Vance will take part in the one scheduled vice presidential debate of the 2024 marketing campaign season hosted by CBS Information subsequent week in New York, based on The New York Times.
Throughout the Sept. 21 marketing campaign rally, Walz claimed Reagan was “the final union member on a nationwide ticket.”
The declare is fake. Trump was a member of the SAG-AFTRA union till he introduced his resignation from the union in a February 2021 letter addressed to then-SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris.
In keeping with the identical letter, the union’s Disciplinary Committee was set to carry a listening to on whether or not or not they’d revoke his membership following the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump cited a number of film and tv appearances within the letter, together with “House Alone 2,” “The Recent Prince of Bel-Air,” and “The Apprentice.” (RELATED: Fact-Checking Donald Trump’s Claim That Kamala Harris Wants To Bring Back The Military Draft)
In April 2023, The Hollywood Reporter indicated Trump was nonetheless gathering his “6-figure SAG and AFTRA pensions” regardless of resigning from the union. Trump acquired a pension between $100,000 and $1 million from SAG in 2022 and a pension between $15,000 and $50,000 from AFTRA, the outlet said, citing monetary disclosure kinds for his 2024 presidential marketing campaign.
Trump earned his SAG pension in 1992 for his look in “House Alone 2,” whereas he earned his AFTRA pension a number of years earlier in 1989 for his look in “Ghosts Can’t Do It.” The previous Republican President and 2024 presidential nominee’s pensions predated the SAG-AFTRA merger that occurred in 2012, based on the outlet.
Likewise, in September 2024, PolitiFact reported Walz’s declare was false, stating Trump was a SAG-AFTRA union member till he resigned. In keeping with PolitiFact, Trump joined the SAG union in 1989, years earlier than it had merged with AFTRA in 2012.
Reagan was concerned with the SAG union as effectively. The actor turned Republican President served as a Board alternate earlier than being elected third Vice President and finally President, based on his official bio by way of SAG-AFTRA’s web site.
Reagan served seven phrases because the union’s president, based on the identical bio, and led actor strikes, The Washington Post reported. Reagan was SAG president the final time actors and writers concurrently went on strike, Town & Country Magazine indicated in July 2023.
Walz was additionally a union member at one time. Walz, a former highschool trainer, was a member of the Nationwide Training Affiliation, the Los Angeles Times reported. Walz touted his union background and mentioned he was “the primary union member on a presidential ticket since Ronald Reagan” throughout his first solo marketing campaign occasion again in August, based on the Los Angeles Occasions.
Test Your Reality has contacted Walz and Trump spokespersons for remark.
