SNL skewers Trump over his hush money trial and praise for Hannibal Lecter – as Kristi Noem is roasted for killing her puppy
Saturday Night Live excoriated Donald Trump in the cold open on Saturday night, focusing on his bombastic comments outside the courtroom as he appeared in New York City for the hush money case involving a porn star.
The ex-president has been appearing in criminal court almost every day for almost two months as he faces 34 charges of falsifying company data.
In the season finale, the late night show opened with an appearance by Trump “from his new home, the barricades outside a Manhattan courthouse.”
“Good evening everyone and thank you for coming to visit me in my cage at the zoo,” said actor James Austin Johnson, who played Trump. “I really enjoy these after-court press conferences in this very strange and depressing hallway.”
“I don’t like the court because they say really mean things about me while I’m trying to sleep,” he added.
SNL took on Trump’s hush money lawsuit with an appearance outside the courtroom in the season finale
Johnson, who regularly played Trump on SNL, made his comments while standing behind a barricade on a set that closely resembled the hallway outside the lower Manhattan courtroom where Trump regularly delivered remarks.
As the ex-president has done, Johnson denounced the silence order that prevents him from speaking about witnesses in the case.
“He gave me a gag order, I said ‘that sounds like a challenge to RuPaul,’” Johnson said as Trump waved his hands in the same way Trump did.
“But you know the court has been wonderful for me in many ways, it’s been very dazzling,” he said.
“Unfortunately, it appears that at the end of this trial I will receive a very severe punishment, namely that I will be sent to a terrible place where I do not want to go: the White House. “I don’t want to go back to the White House, but it seems like people want to send me there.”
James Austin Johnson plays Trump in Manhattan court in the cold on SNL
Despite appearing in court, the ex-president continues to lead in a series of recent polls from battleground states.
The New York prosecutor is expected to rest his case early next week, and Trump’s defense could begin.
After saying last month that he wanted to testify in his own defense, Trump has since withdrawn. It is not clear whether he will take the stand.
‘Believe me, I would like to testify. “I’m not afraid to testify at all, I’m just not going to do it out of fear,” Johnson said, echoing Trump. “You see them do something terrible when you testify, which is: they write it down, and we don’t like that.”
Johnson as Trump with ‘Juror 9’ played by cast member Sarah Sherman
The Trump impersonator also suggested that the ex-president’s supporters would doxx jurors “to hell” in the high-profile case, claiming that “juror 9” means “to me she’s like a six.”
Meanwhile, Trump has floated a series of potential vice presidential picks as he runs for president for a third time.
SNL had its own cast of characters for the so-called “veepstakes,” including some named by the ex-president and others.
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott was played by Michael Longfellow, who claimed he was there to “help Trump win the black vote — specifically my vote.” Other black people don’t vote because black people don’t like me.’
A gun-toting South Dakota governor, Kristi Noem, played by Heidi Gardner, also appeared with a fake dog in his hand.
Johnson as Trump and Devon Walker plays Senator Tim Scott on SNL
Governor Kristi Noem has defended herself after sharing in her book that she shot her dog
The current governor was in hot water after she wrote about killing her 14-month-old dog in her new book.
“You know Kristi could be an interesting choice for VP because on the one hand, she shot a dog, which you really can’t do, don’t shoot dogs, people,” Johnson said as Trump.
“On the other hand, she shot a dog, which is pretty awesome,” he added.
“I kill goats too,” Gardner added, a nod to another of the governor’s stories.
Johnson as Trump on SNL with Michael Longfellow as Hannibal Lecter
Donald Trump recently praised the “late, great” Hannibal Lecter at a rally in Wildwood, NJ
SNL also tapped into the ex-president’s recent comments at a campaign rally in New Jersey, where he praised the fictional character Hannibal Lecter.
“Finally, my last and favorite choice is a man I can keep talking about at my rallies. It’s the late great “Hannibal-Lected,” Johnson said.
“I keep calling him late and great even though he’s not dead, he’s not great and he’s not real,” Johnson admitted. “But I think he would really scare everyone at the border.”
Johnson ended the cold revelation as Trump by saying, “If you’re tired of hearing all my lawsuits, all you have to do is vote for me and it will all go away.”