“Saturday Night Live” was once a premier comedy television program. That was a long time ago, however — when it was not so deeply infected with leftist politics.
Special guests John Goodman and Fred Armisen appeared on the latest episode in the cold open — along with host Bill Hader and cast member Alex Moffat, who plays CNN’s Anderson Cooper on the show. They began with the week’s headlines, including Trump’s firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, depicted by Goodman. Armisen played “Fire and Fury” author Michael Wolff, while Hader assumed the role of Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House communications director.
Kate McKinnon did her dreadful Jeff Sessions impression and said, “Trump made me do it,” when asked about the firing Friday night of FBI veteran Andrew McCabe.
“I’m just a simple man who wanted to make things tough on immigrants,” McKinnon-as-Sessions added. “Now I’m taking away the pension of a Christian white.”
Notice the show makes no distinction at all between the administration’s stance on legal and illegal immigrants when going after the Trump administration. And if it’s supposed to be humorous, then why use identity politics to pit groups against each other? These are logical questions — but likely the producers and writers would rather ignore any such logic behind their moves.
Hader gave Scaramucci, who was born in New York, an over-the-top Italian accent. He also gave Wolff kisses on the forehead — talk about going over the top.
Armisen’s Wolff character was criticized for some of the inaccurate claims he made in his “Fire and Fury” book. In response, he told Moffat’s Anderson Cooper, “It’s all in my new book. I have a new source that tells me everything.”
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The show, of course, had to mention Tillerson’s firing — and in doing so, had to take a shot at the president. Goodman-as-Tillerson said, “It’s just crazy how one day you’re the CEO of Exxon, and the next day you get fired by a man who used to sell steaks in the mail.”
Maybe “SNL” needs a lesson on diversifying a financial portfolio. The creative folks there may laugh at Trump for some of his past endeavors, but ultimately, that all worked out well for him. It’s why Forbes listed Trump’s net worth at $4.5 billion in September of 2015 — because of his prowess as a businessman.
The opening of the show was not the only political moment. The “Weekend Update” segment mentioned Donald Trump Jr.’s impending divorce from his wife, Vanessa.
“It’s a tough break, but I’m sure he’ll take it on the no-chin,” said Michael Che.
As the president’s eldest son goes through turbulence in his personal life, leftists seem to take curious enjoyment out of that — which sums up how low they go when attacking the Right. (Even Chelsea Clinton, several days ago, tweeted out this note of sympathy for the family of Don Jr.: “Please respect the privacy of President Trump’s grandchildren. They’re children and deserve not to be your clickbait. Thank you.”)
The show also went after Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, likely because she did an interview with “60 Minutes” earlier in the week and drew scorn and criticism for it.
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“I think the problem was the words that were coming out of my mouth were bad. That is because they came from my brain,” Kate McKinnon said as DeVos. “I may not be very good on camera, but behind the scenes my ideas are much worse.”
DeVos supports school choice and isn’t the union zealot that Democrats wanted — but there’s definitely irony here when leftists go after conservative women.
When Hillary Clinton was rightfully criticized — in their minds, it was sexism. And yet these same people will make insults directed at women in the Trump administration. The channel’s PR firm also won’t give an explanation as to why it does it. But even if NBC won’t admit it, the agenda is pretty self-explanatory.
It’s ironic that NBC went from the channel that hosted President Trump’s “The Apprentice” to the one that spends its Saturday nights making fun of him for ratings. If anything, this shows how much it needs him in order to make a living.
Tom Joyce is a freelance writer from the South Shore of Massachusetts. He covers sports, pop culture, and politics and has contributed to The Federalist, Newsday, ESPN, and other outlets.
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