He’s back! Alec Baldwin revived his impersonation of Donald Trump for Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update: Summer Edition cold open on Thursday, August 24, and he hit all the hot topics involving the president over the last few weeks.
Baldwin’s Trump kicked off his speech at a Phoenix rally (covered by CNN, of course!) by addressing perhaps the most viral moment from Monday’s total solar eclipse: when the president looked straight at the sun without any protective eyewear despite NASA’s warning to not do so.
“How about that eclipse, folks?” he asks the crowd while wearing sunglasses. “Well, a lot of people don’t know this but you can damage your eyes while looking at an eclipse. No one predicted this. They couldn’t have. I figured it out all by myself!”
Baldwin-as-Trump then launched into the Charlottesville tragedy, where white supremacists and counter-protesters clashed, resulting in the death of anti-racist protestor Heather Heyer.
“There was a tragic victim that came out of Charlottesville: me,” insists SNL’s bumbling version of the commander in chief. “Folks, the media has treated me so unfairly by reporting my entire remarks, even the bad ones! So I wanted to set the record straight, and I have the transcript right here: ‘I moved on her like a b—ch, but I couldn’t get there …’ Oh, sorry! That’s not the right one.”
As reported, in the real president’s speech, he blamed “both sides” for the deadly conflict.
The SNL cold open also had Trump address the firing of White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, the “dishonest media” and Afghanistan.
Before signing off, Weekend Update hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che revealed that Saturday Night Live’s 43rd season would kick off on Saturday, September 30. Ryan Gosling is set to host, and Jay-Z will perform.
