SNL's Cold Open takes a dig at rising gas prices and Trump's empty promises
This week's Saturday Night Live Cold Open kicked off with a dig at the rising gas prices across the country, with the Iran conflict dragging on. The skit with James Austin Johnson's uncanny Donald Trump impression took on the governmental chaos, showing how families are struggling to keep their cars running. The sketch went above and beyond calling out the president's empty promises, Timothy Chalamet's controversial remarks, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's handling of the war.
The Cold Open starts with a family stopped at a gas station to fill up the tank of their car. As the dad gets the nozzle, the mom is in distress as the gas prices have reached $5 per gallon (true story for people living in California). As the man insists they have to fill up the tank all the way to get to their destination, the mother makes the grim decision to leave one of the kids behind to be able to afford gas. That's when one of the kids asks, "Why is gas so expensive?" which prompts Johnson to show up as President Donald Trump.
"Hi, it's me, Donald Trump," he said, addressing the audience. "You might remember me from such campaign promises as 'lower gas prices' and 'no more wars.' Psych! We love to make promises because a promise is just a lie that hasn't happened yet. But now it has, and gas costs like a million, billion dollars a gallon," the comedian/actor continues. He then referenced the host of the night, Harry Styles' music, and a pun that includes his currently disbanded band, saying, "The stock market is going in One Direction: Down." He then explained that gas prices are "very high because of war with Iran, which is where they make gas. I wish someone had told me that."
Continuing further, he referenced the "Marty Supreme" actor, Chalamet's remarks on Ballet and Opera, saying, "We will win this war because Iran is old and nobody likes them. Iran is like ballet and opera, and we're Timmy Chalamet." He then said he (the president) was meeting with the top minds of the nation, including Jake Paul, who got a lot of boos in his fight with Mike Tyson. Just then, Colin Jost appears from the back of the family's car as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, yelling, "Did someone say booze?" With beer cans spilling out of his seat, he went on to add, "If you're wondering why I was in the back seat of this random family's car, I'll tell you the same thing I say when people ask about our plans for Iran: I don't know." He then went on to joke about the Strait of Hormuz being wide open, except for the sea mines, and the U.S. winning the war.
The conflict with Iran has been a focus of the past three cold opens on "SNL." It comes after the average national gas price reached $3.718, up nearly 27% from last month's average of $2.929, according to data from the AAA. While Americans continue to struggle, President Trump shrugged off concerns about rising gas prices, speaking to NBC News in an interview on Saturday. “I think they’ll go lower than they were before, and I had them at record lows,” the president said, adding that he was "not concerned at all" about the prices affecting his party's performance in the midterms.
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