Alec Baldwin may not be interested in playing Donald Trump on Saturday Night Life for much longer, but he was back in the driver’s seat this weekend mocking Trump as he only knows how. With Scarlett Johansson hosting, the show’s cold open featured Trump as commander-in-chief talking to military personnel about battling a deadly alien invasion.
Donning a flight jacket, the sketch did a clever job of taking swipes at Trump’s views on immigrants, his alleged ties with Russia, and his recent spelling mishaps on Twitter through the lens of said alien invasion. True to form, Baldwin as Trump wasted no time putting on a bombastic show.
“Here’s the deal,” Trump boasts, “we’re going to beat these aliens because we’ve got the best military. But, we don’t win anymore. And the aliens are laughing at us. They’re killing us and they’re laughing at us.”
Coming up with a plan of attack on the spot, Trump quickly conjures up a strategy that comically ignores the problem at hand.
“We are going to bring coal back,” Trump exclaims. “We’re going to have so much coal you’re going to say, ‘Where did all this coal from? I never knew there could be this much coal!'”
Later on, Trump tries to dispel any rumors that the murderous aliens might come from a planet called Zorblat 9, prompting one solider to speculate, “Oh my god, does he have business ties on Zorblat 9?”
All in all, it’s a pretty solid sketch. It’s not the best SNL skewering of Trump we’ve seen, but it’s certainly not the worst either.
Incidentally, Baldwin said he may not be able to keep up his Trump impression for much longer. During an interview last week, Baldwin said he’s not sure how much longer people can take it.
“Trump just overwhelmingly lacks any sportsmanship,” Baldwin said. “He remains, bitter, and angry, and you just want to look at him and go, ‘You won!’
“His policies aside,” Baldwin continued, “which you can hate, I thought he would have just relaxed. The maliciousness of this White House has people worried… that’s why I’m not going to do it much longer, the impersonation, I don’t know how much more people can take it.”
In the meantime, you might want to enjoy it while you can.
