In its 2026 premiere, Saturday Night Live mocked President Donald Trump’s egomania over the Nobel Peace Prize, the U.S. military action in Venezuela, and Kristi Noem’s incredibly callous response to the ICE shooting in Minneapolis.
There was no shortage of political material to catch up on, and “SNL” took full advantage of it with fake Trump press conferences and Cabinet meetings. Colin Jost played Pete Hegseth, the vacillating Secretary of Defense. Jeremy Culhane plays Vice President J.D. Vance, who whines about his recent visit to Greenland, a nod to President Trump’s real-life outrageous threat that the United States should occupy Danish territory.
Mr. Trump, played by James Austin Johnson, began his segment by talking about the Christmas holiday from a podium holding the presidential seal.
“I got what I wanted: my own stranger’s Nobel Prize,” Johnson’s Trump said, nodding to the bizarre development in which Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Colina Machado presented Trump with the Nobel Peace Prize in a bid to curry favor with him amid the chaos in her home country.
“I had Maduro, Nicolás Maduro, in my stocking. We did a reverse Santa on him. We came down the chimney with a bag and took him away,” Johnson’s Trump said, referring to the highly criticized US move to arrest the Venezuelan strongman, who is currently imprisoned in New York on drug trafficking charges.
Trump, played by Johnson, referred to Frankenstein director Guillermo del Toro as “my little cabinet of curiosities” and called his cabinet members “all kinds of monsters and nightmares from Guillermo del Trump’s twisted mind.”
For Homeland Security Secretary Noem, Ashley Padilla appeared wearing a cowboy hat similar to the one worn by the real-life Noem when she tried to defend the shooting death of a woman by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on January 7th. “I want to give a quick shout out to the hair and makeup team who absolutely hate me,” Padilla’s Noem said.
Regarding the dire situation in Minneapolis, Padilla’s Noem asked, “Were we perfect? Yes.” She then made a pitch for hiring ICE. “Is your neck wider than your head? Are you wearing a Punisher T-shirt now? Has your son ever punched a hole in the wall because he took dance class? Grab your gun and get in the saddle, bro.”
Later, as Jost made a raucous appearance, Hegseth chugged an energy drink from a giant bottle and bragged about the January 1 military operation in Venezuela. “We went into Venezuela, we tea-bagged their country,” said Jost’s Hegseth.
“We’re having fun showing off our C’s all over the world,” Hegseth said, using the small weight with a sexual connotation. He referenced political protests in the Middle Eastern country that have killed hundreds of people and suggested that Iran would be the next country where U.S. troops would be stationed. “We don’t have the courage to kill protesters. That’s our job,” Jost’s Hegseth warned. “I’ll be right back.”
Johnson’s Trump returned to the stage and ended the press conference. “I know you’re doing it wrong,” he said, pointing to Jost’s overamplified Hegseth. “Midterms are canceled,” he announced before the classic “It’s ‘Saturday Night,’ Live from New York” credits.
