The penultimate episode of “Saturday Night Live’s” 44th season kicked off Saturday with a “Meet the Press” sketch in which Kyle Mooney portrayed Chuck Todd and welcomed Beck Bennett as Mitch McConnell, Cecily Strong as Susan Collins, Kate McKinnon as Lindsey Graham to discuss Donald Trump’s trade war with China and what it would take for them to stop supporting the president.
Since these senators have all opposed tariffs in the past, the question was whether they supported Trump’s tariff now.
“Well, Chuck, there is a simple answer to that. There was no collusion,” Bennett’s McConnell kicked things off.
Turning then to McKinnon’s Graham, Mooney’s Todd pointed out the senator had supported tariffs for decades but was changing tune now.
“When you have a president who’s a financial genius and a business Jesus like Donald Trump, you just got to trust him,” McKinnon’s Graham replied. “This man has lost 100-times more money than I have ever made.”
Related
Mooney’s Todd pointed out this appeared to be a “complete 180 on the president,” after previously calling Trump a “jacka– during the campaign.”
“I am a man of convictions and principals,” McKinnon’s Graham said, “unless he can help me, and then it’s ‘New Lindsey, who dis?’”
Turning to Strong’s Collins, the question was how it felt that the president could just do “unilaterally what he wants,” to which she said she would be the first to admit “that some of the things this administration is doing makes me want to shake my head vigorously and wag my finger once — perhaps twice.”
So what would it take to stop supporting Trump? Mooney’s Todd provided some hypothetical scenarios, such as Robert Mueller testifying in front of Congress that he believes Trump committed obstruction of justice or that Trump is not as religious as he claims, to see if they would be enough.
For the former, Bennett’s McConnell said, “Well, we need a leader who’s doing what he’s got to do to win,” which McKinnon’s Graham agreed with, noting that “the best way to uphold the law is to be above it.”
For the latter, Bennett’s McConnell said, “If you don’t already know that, that’s kind of on you.”
That caused Mooney’s Todd to double down and ask what if Trump lied about being Christian when he was actually Jewish, to which Strong’s Collins said, “That’s great for Israel.”
“I can think of another great man who was Jewish,” Bennett’s McConnell said, quickly following it up with “Jesus Christ” at the same time Strong’s Collins said, “Sammy Davis Jr.”
But the thought of Trump being Muslim made Bennett’s McConnell “want to stress eat,” he said, biting into a piece of lettuce.
Not even divorcing Melania or leaving her for Stormy Daniels or Kathy Griffin saw this panel withdrawing their support. Although they balked at the hypothetical of him leaving Melania for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and said that if Trump suddenly agreed with her new deal it would “cross the line” and that “there are some things you just can’t forgive,” they still said they supported him.
“What if Trump open-hand slaps you in the face? What would you say to that?” Mooney’s Todd asked.
“Harder, daddy,” replied McKinnon’s Graham.
In the end, the three agreed there was nothing that could lose their support because they were, as Bennett’s McConnell put it, “ride or die.”
Watch the “Saturday Night Live” May 11 cold open below:
“Saturday Night Live” airs live coast-to-coast Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET / 8:30 p.m. PT on NBC.