When “Saturday Night Live” returned from a four-week hiatus, the gang at Studio 8H wasn’t lacking for material. They had the flap over the nuclear option and the smorgasbord of news about Donald Trump’s Russia ties, among other things. Ultimately, the “Not Ready For Primetime Players” decided to kill two birds with one stone. Alec Baldwin returned for another epic send-up of the Donald. That wasn’t a surprise. What was a surprise was that he pulled it off twice.


The first came during the cold open, when Baldwin took on the growing buyers’ remorse among Trump supporters who now realize they’re getting screwed by their chosen one’s policies. Watch here.

“Trump” spoke at a town hall in Boone County, Kentucky–in the crimson-red suburbs of Cincinnati. He boasted about the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, and openly sighed with relief at the thought the missile strike on Syria got everyone off his back about Russia.

But one of his supporters threw him a curveball. A coal miner asked “Trump” how he was going to help get him back to work. “Trump” vowed to do everything he could to ensure that the miner, his kids, and grandkids would “work in coal for the rest of their lives.” But all the miner wanted was a good job–even if it wasn’t in a coal mine. “Trump” blew him off, saying, “It’s all coal!” After all, he said, there are only two places for men to work in his world–“coal mines and Goldman Sachs.” To that end, he promised to end all regulations on coal mines.

Another supporter asked what “Trump” was going to do about Obamacare. He had to spend 90 minutes round trip to see a doctor, and his premiums had shot up. “Trump” blamed the failure on Paul Ryan, but vowed that with the Freedom Caucus’ help, all health care would be repealed–“all of it, gone!” The supporter didn’t mind–after all, there was a good reason he was rich.

A third supporter wanted the “president’s” help to cure his wife’s painkiller addiction. He wanted to move, but his wife was in a federal rehabilitation program. “Trump” replied, “My wife doesn’t want to move, either.” He vowed to slash the rehab program to help the supporter’s wife move–as he put it, “junking it, junked!” He likened his supporters’ continued loyalty to someone eating chili even after finding a finger in it.

A female supporter was forced to work two minimum-wage jobs to pay her mortgage; she couldn’t sell her house because it was underwater. Additionally, her son is in an after-school program. But not to worry–“Trump” declared that the minimum wage, her house, and the after-school program would all be “junked!” Her water had been left undrinkable due to lead poison–but “Trump” said she could keep that. In the face of all of this, she was still loyal to the Donald.

As it turned out, Baldwin wasn’t finished with Trump yet. He turned up in another skit later in the show–this time, doing double duty as another right-wing bogeyman, Bill O’Reilly. Watch here.

“O’Reilly” began with a “talking points memo” on Susan Rice’s supposed role in the “wiretapping” of Trump. The reporter he initially wanted to ask was no longer on the payroll, prompting “O’Reilly” to ask, “Did she get the check?” It was an obvious play on reports Fox News has had to cough up millions to settle harassment claims against O’Reilly. He then turned to Malia Zimmerman, played by Cecily Strong. When “Zimmerman” told “O’Reilly” that Rice had denied any wrongdoing, “O’Reilly” asked if Rice’s eyes were saying “yes” even as her voice was saying “no.”

After thanking the few advertisers who stuck with him, “O’Reilly” brought on a special guest–“Trump,” in a pretaped segment. “Trump” revealed that he still supported “O’Reilly.” He believed that he “saw a lot of myself in you”–based on “a hunch, a loose hunch.”


“Trump” admitted he was more familiar with “O’Reilly’s” ordeal than he was with health care. But for whatever reason, he hadn’t looked into the details of the case. Maybe it’s because the “failing” New York Times has been driving the bus on this story.

Baldwin suggested in March that he might not play Trump for much longer because Trump’s outrages are passing most people’s tolerance levels. Well, apparently he realized that for the country’s sake, he needs to keep trolling the Donald. It’s one of the few things that makes this so-called presidency bearable.

The best proof that Baldwin nailed it? As of Sunday night, we haven’t seen any rage tweets from Trump or O’Reilly. Maybe he knows Baldwin had them both busted.

(featured image: screenshot courtesy NBC via The Daily Beast)