‘SNL’ Debuts James Austin Johnson As New Donald Trump

Saturday Night Live cast member James Austin Johnson took on a new character, ex-POTUS Donald Trump, making Trump’s first appearance in this season.

The opening scene of last Saturday’s show featured the return of Cecile String’s Jeanine Pirro, who brought on Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, played by Pete Davidson, as her first guest. Rodgers talked about the controversy revolving around him not being vaccinated – despite claiming he had been. This leads to him talking about his 7-1 record, “Meaning, of the eight people I infected, seven are fine.”

Alex Moffat then comes on as Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin and brings on a concerned mother (Heidi Gardner) about a list of books she wants to be banned from schools, including The Great Gatsby because of “too much jazz.”

Youngkin was in the news for managing to win over a lot of Trump voters while keeping his relationship with the former president at arm’s length. Johnson’s Trump then makes an appearance and dominates the rest of the sketch.

Trump goes off with a pair of stream-of-consciousness rants that are hilariously bullet-pointed on the side of the screen.

Johnson was added to the cast mainly on his strengths in impressions and taking on multiple characters. Alec Baldwin has played the Trump character before and was best known for his impression. It seems Johnson will be reprising his Trump impression as the season continues after Baldwin was involved in a fatal shooting on his latest film’s set.