Even though my friend Stef and I have launched an activism-focused blog — The Activist Playbook — you can expect some cross-posting on the same topics here. If you don’t like it, you can click here for the egress, as a modern-day P.T. Barnum might say. I just can’t keep quiet when I believe recent political developments are an actual emergency.
A president-elect who is supported by the Ku Klux Klan has his surrogate threatening the executive editor of the New York Times with jail for publishing a portion of the then-candidate’s tax returns. That’s a blatant attack on the freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment — one of the things that has really has made this country great.
The president-elect himself refuses intelligence briefings while recklessly antagonizing China — a nuclear power — by breaking with decades of U.S. foreign policy to speak with the president of Taiwan. (That call was arranged by Bob Dole, now a lobbyist whose firm was paid $140,000 by Taiwan to make the contact happen. So much for draining the swamp.) After months of criticizing Hillary Clinton for giving paid speeches to investment bank Goldman Sachs, the kleptocrat-in-charge is naming former Goldman Sachs employees to prominent government roles. The man seems more interested in writing tweets that expose his shockingly limited vocabulary than in learning anything about the responsibilities of the president.
He’s also still very interested in television. Yesterday, a spokeswoman confirmed that the former reality-television star would maintain his paid executive-producing role on The New Celebrity Apprentice, which airs on NBC.
READ MY POST ABOUT THE PROBLEMS WITH THIS ON THE ACTIVIST PLAYBOOK.
This is far from the worst conflict of interest the president-elect has, but it’s one that’s easy to protest. Here’s the contact information. It’s best to call whenever possible instead of emailing or tweeting.
NBC Universal’s New York City number: 212-664-4444. (Click here for other office locations.)
MGM, the owner of The New Celebrity Apprentice: 310-449-3000.
For NBC News, you can use this email address until I confirm a phone number: contact.nbcnews@nbcuni.com
File a consumer complaint with the Federal Communications Commission here. People holla at the FCC at the sight of a harmless nipple, so you can certainly reach out when the president is acting inappropriately. The FCC says such complaints provide “valuable information to spot trends and practices that warrant investigation and enforcement action.” I’ve got advice on what to write in your complaint in my Activist Playbook post.
And, of course, #BoycottNBC. I know you’re all watching Hulu and Netflix anyway, so that shouldn’t be too difficult! Get on it.