SNL Still Isn’t Pulling Any Punches When it Comes to Donald Trump

Despite Donald Trump’s comments about Saturday Night Live, its writers are still going after the President-elect…hard. In last night’s cold open, Alec Baldwin reprised his fantastic Trump impression, and was visited by Beck Bennett as Vladimir Putin and John Goodman as Rex Tillerson. The SNL skit was incredibly entertaining, but certainly not subtle:

One highlight from the sketch was Putin’s gift of an “elf on a shelf” to Trump–telling him he should keep it out year-round and put it right next to his internet router. Putin and Tillerson also called each other the pet names “Pootie” and “Rexy,” showed off a secret handshake, and talked about oil while Trump asked if they could take out Vanity Fair. The message was clear: SNL was attacking Trump for his relationship with Russia.

And of course, the writers were just making fun of Trump generally. For example, they referenced Trump’s new word “unpresidented” which he has received plenty of flak for tweeting, given that it’s not an actual word.

It took Trump and his team 87 minutes to fix the word “unpresidented.” pic.twitter.com/Bz7NxSqwlo

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 17, 2016

Trump hasn’t tweeted about the show yet, but that doesn’t mean he won’t. Most of the previous SNL sketches featuring Baldwin’s impression have drawn Trump’s wrath.

SNL hasn’t forgotten about Hillary Clinton either. Kate McKinnon once again reprised her role as Clinton, to star in a timely “Love Actually” sketch that also took some jabs at Trump.

Clinton shows up at an elector’s door to ask her to vote for anyone else on December 19, presenting a very, very long list of reasons why Trump should not be president.

Regardless of Trump’s feelings about the comedy show, it seems likely that SNL will continue to have some good fodder for sketches for the next four years.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.