Overview of the Cold Open

The latest episode of Saturday Night Live (SNL) featured a cold open that humorously recreated President Donald Trump’s recent speech in the Rose Garden, during which he introduced a series of controversial global tariffs. The skit was notable not only for its comedic value but also for drawing the ire of a former host of the show.

Key Highlights from the Skit

In the opening voice-over, the narrator quipped that Trump’s tariffs were, “like everything else so far in his presidency, it was a total home run.” Portraying Trump, actor James Austin Johnson enthusiastically declared his fondness for the term “tariff,” humorously defining it as “short for tariff-ic idea.” He compared the concept to “a series of random numbers, like the numbers on the computer screen in ‘Severance.'”

Johnson’s portrayal also included a playful twist on Trump’s slogan with the phrase, “Make America Great Depression Again,” abbreviated as “MAGDA.” In a comedic flourish, he proclaimed, “It’ll be a fantastic, unbelievable Depression, the likes of which you’ve never seen before.”

Absurdity of the Tariffs

The skit took a satirical dive into the absurdity of Trump’s tariffs, joking about taxation on uninhabited islands. “No country is safe from my tariffs,” Johnson said in character, emphasizing the ludicrousness of targeting locations devoid of human presence.

Trump, through Johnson’s comedic lens, also critiqued trade relationships, specifically mentioning South Africa with, “They’ve never even sent us one good thing.” This commentary set the stage for the entrance of Mike Myers, who donned the guise of Elon Musk.

Elon Musk’s Cameo

Myers’s Musk, recognizable by a cheese hat—a nod to Musk’s recent Wisconsin visit—amused the audience by addressing his own political misadventures. “That was from when I tried to buy the election in Wisconsin,” he stated, reflecting on his failed political maneuvering. “I’m an idiot. I should have just bought Wisconsin.”

Continuing the parody, Musk lamented the growing dislike of Tesla vehicles, attributing it to his own actions with a self-aware quip: “So I asked myself why and then I answered myself: because of me.” He unveiled an innovative Tesla model described humorously as “the first electric car in history to be fully self-vandalizing.”

Impact of the Skit

Following the sketch, reactions poured in, particularly from Musk, who took to his social media platform X to criticize the show. He remarked, “SNL hasn’t been funny in a long time,” and further commented that the show had become “their own parody.”