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On ‘SNL,’ Baldwin’s Trump Yearns For Putin-MBS Bromance

Posted at 9:13 AM, Dec 02, 2018
and last updated 2018-12-02 09:13:09-05

(NBC News) — President Donald Trump’s trip this week to the G-20 summit in Argentina was lampooned by “Saturday NIght Live,” which returned with a new episode Saturday after a holiday break.

Alec Baldwin’s Trump was portrayed as loathing special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russia’s influence on the 2016 election.

Trump’s current personal attorney, Rudy Guiliani, played by Kate McKinnon, tried to console him.

“I keep all those secrets where no one can find them,” he said. “On nationally televised interviews.”

Cecily Strong’s Melania Trump also tried to reassure the president.

“I keep having this nightmare where I’m walking through a forest of blood,” Trump said.

“No no,” Melania said, “that was just my Christmas decorations.”

Ben Stiller made a cameo appearance as Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty this week to lying to Congress. Trump told Cohen he’s been like a son to him.

“Why’d you make me do so much illegal stuff?” Cohen said.

“Because you were like a son to me,” Trump said.

Former SNL repertory player Fred Armisen returned to Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center to portray Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose bromance with Putin, played by Beck Bennett, appeared to make Trump jealous.

After giving each other a elaborate handshake meant to mock the “high five” greeting the pair shared in Argentina, Prince Mohammed, sometimes referred to as MBS, and Putin reminisced about a recent outing together.

“I asked, like, ‘Did you really kill that journalist?'” Putin said.

“Of course I didn’t — on opposite day,” Prince Mohammed said.

The show was hosted by actor Claire Foy and the musical guest was Anderson .Paak.

On a spoof of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” New York Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, played by Melissa Villaseñor, spoke about her transformation from a millennial doing odd jobs to having an office in the Capitol.

“I’m actually still working for TaskRabbit,” she said.

Her fitness for Congress challenged, Ocasio-Cortez added, “I worked as a bartender in a Mexican restaurant like 11 minutes ago. This job is a friggin’ breeze.”

On the “Weekend Update” segment, the first lady’s holiday decor of stark red Christmas trees was again roasted.

“Those trees look like jagged teeth in the blazing hot mouth of Satan himself,” said co-host Colin Jost, remarking that if Hillary Clinton had been elected president in 2016, Bill Clinton would have done the decorating.

“That hallway would just be 100 percent leg lamps,” Jost said, referring to the lamp shaped like a woman’s stockinged leg from the movie “A Christmas Story.”

The segment turned to the migrant caravan in Tijuana, Mexico, where some Central Americans tried to rush the U.S. boundary last week only to be doused with tear gas by U.S. Border Patrol agents.

Co-host Michael Che said the episode gave “migrants a fun preview of what it’s like to be a minority in America.”

The end of the segment was dedicated to the passing of George H.W. Bush, who was often portrayed by SNL’s Dana Carvey during his presidency. Bush said he enjoyed the impression, and a vintage clip of him responding to Carvey with faux outrage was run.

“It’s totally exaggerated,” Bush said. “It’s not me. Those crazy hand gestures. … Also, nah gah dah? Never said it.”