Actor Alec Baldwin returned to NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” to impersonate President Trump in a parody of a virtual graduation ceremony for the “class of COVID-19.”
Kate McKinnon, playing Principal O’Grady, introduced Baldwin’s Trump after noting that the students’ top seven choices to speak at their graduation declined invitations.
“Unfortunately Barack and Michelle Obama said no, as did your next five choices,” McKinnon told the graduating seniors on a Zoom conference call. “So I moved on to your eighth choice, receiving one vote, President Donald Trump.”
Baldwin’s Trump, wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat, then appeared on the call, congratulating the “class of COVID-19” and noting that he had to do his own makeup because his valet tested positive for the coronavirus.
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“I’m so honored to be your valedictator,” Baldwin’s Trump said. “But today’s not about me. It’s about you.”
“Although I should spend a little time on me first because I’ve been treated very poorly, even worse than they treated Lincoln,” he added, prompting one student to chime in and ask, “Wasn’t Lincoln assassinated?”
“I’m not taking questions. I’m only telling the truth. Lincoln would agree,” Baldwin’s Trump responded. “He’s probably smiling up at me from hell right now.”
Baldwin’s Trump went on to tout the job market for the graduating seniors, listing occupations such as “grocery store bouncer” and “amateur nurse.” He also declared that he would make sure college campuses are open in the fall, calling online college a “scam.”
“I should know. My online college was ranked No. 1 craziest scam by U.S. News every year it was open,” he said before complaining about “elite medical experts” telling him what to do.
He then picked up a bottle labeled bleach and took a sip out of it, calling it his “invincibility juice.” Trump suggested in an April press conference that disinfectant be studied as a coronavirus treatment, a comment he later said was meant to be sarcastic.
“Believe in yourselves and you can achieve anything,” Baldwin’s Trump said. “Look at me. I started as the son of a simple, wealthy slumlord and grew to be a billionaire, president and world’s leading expert on infectious disease. … Live every day as if it’s your last because we’re going to let this thing run wild.”
“Reach for the stars because if you’re a star, they’ll let you do it,” he added.
Watch:
Welcome to Virtual High School Graduation. #SNLAtHome pic.twitter.com/rPrATQeMQ1
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) May 10, 2020
Spot on!
