Alec Baldwin Returns to Mock Trump’s Tough Week in “SNL” Cold Open

Cold open revisited latest Mueller probe bombshells, Putin and Saudi Crown Prince's G20 friendship.

Saturday Night Live cold open sketch, December 1, 2018 (Photo credit: NBC)
Saturday Night Live cold open sketch, December 1, 2018 (Photo credit: NBC)

Alec Baldwin returned to the role of Donald Trump after the latter’s difficult week, one that saw more ominous developments in the Mueller Special Counsel investigation of Trump’s 2016 campaign as well as a hearty, high-profile handshake between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman at the G20 Summit that seemed to exclude the U.S. President. Standing on the balcony of a hotel in Buenos Aires, Baldwin’s Trump contemplates his fate.

Addressing Michael Cohen’s latest guilty plea deal with the Mueller investigation, Trump calls Cohen, played by actor Ben Stiller in a cameo appearance. When his former boss said: “I’m sad you’re going to prison, Michael, you were like a son to me,” Cohen complained, “Then why you’d make me do so much illegal stuff?”

“Because you were like a son me,” Trump deadpanned.

Later, Putin and the Saudi Crown Prince—the latter played by former cast member Fred Armisen—appear before Trump to flaunt their newfound friendship through increasingly elaborate handshakes. “You won’t see me for a while, Donnie,” Putin then says to Trump, “I prefer presidents who don’t get indicted.”

 

The sketch concluded with Baldwin’s Trump singing a modified version of “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” from Evita:

“Dont cry for me, Argentina,
the truth is I’m very guilty;
some little no-nos
and maybe treason,
but I kept my promise,
oops, no I didn’t.”

He was then joined by the rest of the sketch’s cast to finish out the song with the final line:

“It’s just a witch hunt…
and we’re all witches.”

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