Saturday Night Live didn’t hold back on roasting President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariff plan that sent global stocks plunging this week.
The NBC sketch comedy show’s latest cold open kicked off on Saturday with a voice narrating, “On Wednesday, President Trump gave a speech in the Rose Garden announcing his economic vision for America, including tariffs against almost every country we do business with, and like everything else so far in his presidency, it was a total home run. We go now to a presentation of Trump’s historically awesome speech.”
The camera then cuts to James Austin Johnson’s Trump giving a speech on the president’s tariff plan. “My favorite word, tariff, which of course is short for terrific idea,” he says. “They’re the backbone of my incredible plan for our economy.”
“It’s actually even better than a plan because it’s a series of random numbers,” he continues. “Like the numbers on the computer screen in Severance. No idea what the hell they mean, but I know what the numbers mean, OK? They mean we’re gonna Make America Wealthy Again.”
Johnson’s Trump adds, “You know, you’re gonna check your stock portfolio in a couple of days and think, ‘I’m almost too wealthy with doing MAWA. But before that, we’re gonna do MAGDA, Make America Great Depression Again. But it’ll be better than great. It’ll be a fantastic, unbelievable depression, the likes of which you’ve never seen before.”
He later notes that “no country is safe from my tariffs. I even put tariffs on an island that is uninhabited by humans. It’s called Heard and McDonald Islands.” The island near Antarctica is a remote territory inhabited by penguins.
“Oh, McDonald Island. I’d love to visit there, right?” Johnson’s Trump says. “Can you imagine that, a Big Mac and a hula skirt.” He then brings out some fake artwork he had made of his dream McDonald Island before adding, “There we go. Get me to God’s country, right?” referencing Morgan Wallen’s (last week’s musical guest) Instagram post after quickly leaving SNL once this show wrapped.
Mike Myers later returns during the cold open to portray Elon Musk and joins Trump during his speech.
Jack Black, star of A Minecraft Movie, returns to SNL to host for the fourth time, with musical guests Elton John and Brandi Carlile.
More to come.
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