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SNL skewers Donald Trump’s ‘crazy’ cabinet picks in brutal Cold Open

The sketch featured impersonations of Matt Gaetz and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Katie Hawkinson
Sunday 17 November 2024 00:26 EST
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Alec Baldwin appears as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on ‘Saturday Night Alive’ alongside James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump and Dana Carvey as Joe Biden
Alec Baldwin appears as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on ‘Saturday Night Alive’ alongside James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump and Dana Carvey as Joe Biden (Saturday Night Live)

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Saturday Night Live took a hit at Donald Trump’s controversial cabinet picks in their Cold Open sketch on Saturday night.

The skit, which started by poking fun at Trump and President Joe Biden’s transition meeting, took jabs at the many people who could join the president-elect’s cabinet come January.

“It’s all about surrounding yourself with the best people,” comedian James Austin Johnson said, playing Trump in the sketch. “And I am very vastly picking the most epic cabinet of all time. They’re some of the most dynamic, free-thinking, animal-killing, sexually-criminal, medically-crazy people in the country.”

The first cabinet member to make an appearance was Matt Gaetz, played by Sarah Sherman.

Gaetz, Trump’s pick for attorney general, has come under fire after reports indicated the House Ethics Committee was set to release a “damaging report” this week as part of their investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use against the former representative.

“Of course, I had to resign from Congress because the confirmation process comes at the busiest time of year for me…girls volleyball season,” Sherman-as-Gaetz said.

A woman, who is now in her 20s, is also said to have testified over multiple days before the committee after they subpoenaed her this summer, according to ABC News. She reportedly claimed that Gaetz had sex with her when she was 17 years old.

Sarah Sherman played former Florida Representative Matt Gaetz on ‘Saturday Night Live'
Sarah Sherman played former Florida Representative Matt Gaetz on ‘Saturday Night Live' (Saturday Night Live)

Gaetz resigned from the House on Wednesday after Trump named him the nominee for attorney general.

Next to appear on the SNL stage was Robert F. Kennedy Jr., played by Alec Baldwin. Trump has selected the former Independent candidate, a known vaccine-sceptic, to lead Health and Human Services.

“Americans need someone to teach them how to be healthy, someone like me, a 70-year-old man with movie star looks and a worm in his brain,” Baldwin said, impersonating Kennedy’s gravelly voice.

Kennedy has previously revealed he contracted a tape worm from food he consumed in South Asia and claimed it ate part of his brain.

“All right, I gotta go. I got a dead dolphin in my car, I think I might saw it in half and dump it in Central Park.” Baldwin continued, referencing Kennedy’s bizarre admission that he dumped a dead bear cub in New York City’s Central Park a decade ago.

The sketch ended with a quip about the Jake Paul/Mike Tyson boxing match from Dana Carvey, who played Biden.

“I’ll do what every worn-down old guy does,” Carvey said, referencing Biden’s post-White-House plans. “I’m gonna fight Jake Paul.”

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