SNL's Clinton and Trump break character to end election rancor
Saturday Night Live's final pre-election cold open took an unexpectedly charming turn, appealing for unity and high voter turnout. The sketch started predictably enough, with Kate McKinnon's Hillary Clinton and Alec Baldwin's Donald Trump facing off in a contentious CNN interview.
But right around the 7-minute mark, in the midst of spelling out exactly why Clinton should be in jail, Baldwin can't take it anymore. "I'm sorry Kate, I hate yelling at you like this," he says, and she agrees. "I just feel gross all the time," he continues, turning to the audience. "Don't you feel gross all the time about this?"
Then, still in costume, McKinnon and Baldwin go on a delightful romp through New York City to the swelling chords of Arcade Fire, hugging and dancing with Clinton and Trump supporters alike. They finally make it back to 30 Rock to offer one last Election Day appeal. Watch the full skit below. Bonnie Kristian
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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.
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