“Saturday Night Live” aired one of its most scathing hits against Donald Trump yet this weekend–but instead of going after the Republican frontrunner himself, it went after the people who support him. This weekend’s cold open featured cast member Cecily Strong as Scottie Nell Hughes, a conservative commentator who aggressively supports Trump. And while the spot features two of SNL’s most famous faces–in addition to Strong, Kate McKinnon plays CNN’s Kate Bolduan–it wasn’t that far off from some of the insane things that I’ve seen Trump supporters and spokespeople say on the air over the last few months.
Check out the SNL clip below:
McKinnon brings up multiple controversial statements regarding women made by Trump recently–including the fact that he brought up punishing women who have abortions during an interview last week. For each controversy that McKinnon brings up, Strong has a retort or explanation, each more ridiculous than the last.
Whether intentionally or not, SNL’s choice to feature Nell Hughes was foreshadowed by the pundit herself. As Gawker’s Melissa Cronin pointed out, Nell Hughes was talking about Trump supporters on CNN last month when she stated that they “have been abused, they have been slaughtered, they have been made fun of, on everything from the nightly news to ‘Saturday Night Live.'”
Nell Hughes reacted to Strong’s portrayal of her on CNN, saying that while she for the most part had a good laugh at it, after she had mulled it over, she found her portrayal a bit sexist.
She stated:
Talk about the ultimate shaming, the ultimate sexism. What does ‘SNL’ want me to do? Be barefoot and pregnant? Or maybe just talk about parenting issues? … Just because you don’t like the guy that I speak favorably of, then you know they’re obviously going to attack.
She also talked to the Blaze, and said that she was a little bit “shaken” and that “those who know me know that I’m actually a very insecure person. I read every tweet.”
SNL’s mocking of Nell Hughes was certainly specific, but not necessarily off base. As Slate points out, Nell Hughes has said some incredibly concerning things about Donald Trump, on various shows–making them fair game for SNL’s acidic parody.