In a biting satire of the current administration, Saturday Night Live used its latest cold open to lampoon President Donald Trump for reportedly falling asleep during meetings and to poke fun at his unexpectedly warm rapport with New York City's incoming mayor.
Trump's High-Energy Nap and Mamdani Dreams
The sketch, which aired on Saturday 7 December 2024, opened with a press conference addressing the controversial U.S. military strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, played by Colin Jost, vigorously defended the president's support. "Trump has my back 100%," Jost declared, before the camera panned to reveal the commander-in-chief, portrayed by James Austin Johnson, fast asleep in his chair.
In his slumber, the fictional Trump mumbled, "Stop Mamdani, you can freeze my rent anytime," referencing the Democratic socialist mayor-elect of New York City, Zohran Mamdani. This gag followed the real-world lengthy and friendly White House meeting between the two figures, which some commentators described as a "love-fest."
Jolting awake, Johnson's Trump insisted, "I'm very much awake. Now someone quickly tell me where am I, who am I and what year might it be." After offering shaky support to Hegseth, he then shoved the Defence Secretary off the stage.
Skewering the 'Fog of War' and Controversial Strikes
The spoof then turned to the serious controversy surrounding a second military strike on 2 September, authorised after survivors were seen clinging to a wrecked vessel. In the sketch, Trump dismissed concerns by invoking the "fog of war," adding, "It's a thing you only say after doing war crime."
This was a direct parody of Hegseth's real comments from the previous Tuesday, where he used the same phrase to describe the follow-up attack. The sketch's Trump then qualified his support, stating he would stand by Hegseth "unless of course it could hurt me in any way in which case I'll throw him under one of Mamdani's free buses."
Hegseth's Aggressive 'Q&A' and the Sketch's Finale
Earlier in the segment, Jost's Hegseth took questions from reporters with relentless hostility. Announcing, "We're now at war with Venezuela," he told journalists to "pretend I'm a random fishing boat and fire away." When asked if he personally ordered survivors to be killed, he retorted, "that kind of cruel heartless act has no place in Operation Kill Everybody."
The cold open concluded with a reporter asking Trump about voters blaming him for the affordability crisis. As the camera cut back to the president for his answer, he was once again soundly asleep, leaving the press conference—and the sketch—without a coherent response.
The episode highlighted the ongoing political drama through comedy, focusing on Trump's conduct, the contentious military actions in the Caribbean, and his surprising political alliance, all while lawmakers in Washington remain deeply divided over the strikes that have killed at least 84 people.
