Saturday Night Live has ripped President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet and staff nominations for his upcoming administration.
After winning the election earlier in November, Trump has announced 12 out of 24 Cabinet members and several other members of staff who may not require Senate confirmation.
SNL’s cold open skit had Trump, played by James Austin Johnson, discussing some of his more controversial choices with President Joe Biden, played by Dana Carvey, in the White House.
When Biden tried to give Trump some advice, the Republican replies, “I already know how to do president. It’s all about surrounding yourself with the best people, and I am very fastly 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.”
SNL posted a clip of the sketch on X, formerly Twitter, garnering 185,100 views by Sunday morning.
Newsweek contacted Trump’s office via email for comment outside of business hours.
One of Trump’s choices is Florida Representative Matt Gaetz for attorney general, who, before resigning from Congress, was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for months for allegedly engaging in sexual misconduct and drug use. Gaetz strongly denied the allegations.
In 2022, more than two years after the inquiry was launched, prosecutors recommended that the Department of Justice not level charges against Gaetz, citing concerns about the credibility of two witnesses. Five months later, the department closed the investigation.
Former Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been chosen for health secretary, having previously said that childhood vaccines cause autism.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who was widely criticized for bragging about killing her pet dog, is Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security, and tech billionaire Elon Musk will head the new Department of Government Efficiency, which will seek to cut the federal budget by $2 trillion.
Alex Brandon and Julia Demaree Nikhinson/ASSOCIATED PRESS
In the skit, Trump gives his reasons for the choices: “Well, we’ve got Elon and Matt Gaetz: that’s an Alien versus Predator. We’ve got, we’ve got Kristi Noem and RFK Junior. They’re killing the dogs; they’re killing the bears. And Melania will be working remotely from divorce.”
Gaetz, played by Sarah Sherman, then arrives at the White House, in a costume mocking the attorney general nominee’s appearance.
“Of course I had to resign from Congress because the confirmation process comes at the busiest time of year for me,” Gaetz said. Trump asked, “The holidays?” and Gaetz replied, “Girls’ volleyball season.”
Kennedy, played by Alec Baldwin, then arrives, to discuss women’s health.
“I care deeply about a woman’s right to choose,” he said. “To choose to give her child polio.”
The skit comes in the context of SNL‘s frequent mocking and caricaturing of Trump since he first ran for president in 2015, and the president-elect has been feuding with the show. In 2022, he wrote on Truth Social that it was not funny or smart and had low ratings.
