SNL's Trump gives some questionable advice to class of 2020 in season finale


Saturday Night Live capped its 45th season with another made-from-home episode Saturday evening, with Alec Baldwin's President Trump returning for the cold open.
When high school students celebrating their graduation remotely couldn't get any of their preferred commencement speakers to show up, including Barack and Michele Obama, Axl Rose, "murder" hornets, and Elon Musk's and Grimes' new baby, the school was forced to go with Trump, who went on to give some confounding advice.
Baldwin's Trump told the class, after pausing to take a swig of bleach, to believe in themselves and, with that belief, they can achieve anything. They only needed to look at him since he rose from humble origins as the son of a "simple, wealthy slumlord" to become a "billionaire, the president, and the world's leading expert on infectious diseases." He then suggested they surround themselves with the worst people possible so they always stand out, call things "stupid" when they don't understand them, and never wear sunscreen.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

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.
By the end of the tangent, pretty much everyone had logged off. Watch the full skit below. Tim O'Donnell
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
US, China extend trade war truce for 90 days
Speed Read The triple-digit tariff threat is postponed for another three months
-
Trump takes over DC police, deploys National Guard
Speed Read The president blames the takeover on rising crime, though official figures contradict this concern
-
Aug. 12 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Tuesday’s political cartoons include ICE youth, the self-serving EPA, Vladimir Putin demanding Alaska back, and Donald Trump with Jeffrey Epstein
-
Trump takes over DC police, deploys National Guard
Speed Read The president blames the takeover on rising crime, though official figures contradict this concern
-
Trump sends FBI to patrol DC, despite falling crime
Speed Read Washington, D.C., 'has become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the world,' Trump said
-
Trump officials reinstating 2 Confederate monuments
Speed Read The administration has plans to 'restore Confederate names and symbols' discarded in the wake of George Floyd's 2020 murder
-
Trump nominates Powell critic for vacant Fed seat
speed read Stephen Miran, the chair of Trump's Council of Economic Advisers and a fellow critic of Fed chair Jerome Powell, has been nominated to fill a seat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
-
ICE scraps age limits amid hiring push
Speed Read Anyone 18 or older can now apply to be an ICE agent
-
Trump's global tariffs take effect, with new additions
Speed Read Tariffs on more than 90 US trading partners went into effect, escalating the global trade war
-
House committee subpoenas Epstein files
Speed Read The House Oversight Committee has issued a subpoena to the Justice Department for its Jeffrey Epstein files with an Aug. 19 deadline
-
India rejects Trump threat over Russian oil
Speed Read The president said he would raise tariffs on India for buying and selling Russian oil