Saturday Night Live kicked off 2026 with a cold open sketch featuring James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump, who presented his “Cabinet of curiosities” to address recent events including the capture of Nicolas Maduro and federal raids in Minnesota.
Johnson’s Trump boasted of receiving Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize medal as a Christmas gift, and described Maduro’s capture as a “reverse Santa” operation. The sketch referenced the ousted Venezuelan president now facing federal drug charges, with Trump vowing U.S. oil companies would rebuild the nation’s infrastructure.
The cabinet included familiar faces: Marcello Hernandez as a bashful Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Colin Jost as an explosive Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth drinking protein mix, and newcomer Ashley Padilla as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Noem addressed the volatile situation in Minneapolis, where hundreds of federal officers have been deployed for mass deportations, met with fierce resistance and a fatal ICE shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good.
Noem’s character defended the administration’s actions, saying “have we been perfect? Yes,” before sarcastically recruiting agents with criteria like “is your neck wider than your head?” Jost’s Hegseth threatened Iran, echoing Trump’s suggestion of military intervention if protesters are killed, despite reports of hundreds of deaths and thousands of arrests since Thursday.
