SNL's President Trump and Skeletor Stephen Bannon declare war on Australia, Mexico, and Germany

Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump for SNL

Saturday Night Live opened with the return of Alec Baldwin as President Trump and a Skeletor lookalike as his chief strategist, Stephen Bannon. The skit begins with Trump learning his daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner — who are believed to be a moderating force in the White House — are observing Shabbat and therefore unable to moderate. "When the Jews are away, the goys will play," Trump declares before summoning Bannon to his side.

The game of the evening turns out to be rapidly escalating calls with world leaders, specifically the prime minister of Australia, the president of Mexico, and the chancellor of Germany. By the end of every call, Trump has declared war on each country — "America first, Australia sucks, your reef is failing, prepare to go to war!" — and failed to force Mexico to pay for the border wall. I dunno, though, I kind of think his free cruise scam idea could work. Watch the full sketch below. Bonnie Kristian

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.