SNL’s Trump brings out ‘Cabinet of curiosities’ after Venezuela assault and ICE raids | EUROtoday

Saturday Night Live’s first sketch of 2026 introduced out James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump and his “Cabinet of curiosities” for a standing replace on the administration’s threats to Iran, the seize of Nicolas Maduro and a surge of federal officers in Minnesota.

“I got what I wanted for Christmas, my very own someone else’s Nobel Prize, which I cherish,” mentioned Johnson’s Trump after Venezuelan opposition chief María Corina Machado gifted him her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize medal.

“And in my stocking I got Maduro – Nicolas Maduro,” he mentioned. “We did a reverse Santa on him. We came down the chimney with a bag and took him away.”

The chilly open sketch referenced the U.S. authorities’s seize of the ousted Venezuelan president now dealing with federal drug costs, with Trump vowing that U.S. oil corporations will rebuild the South American nation’s oil and gasoline infrastructure.

Johnson then re-introduced his Cabinet, which he described as his “fellow freaks, various monsters and nightmares from the twisted mind of Guillermo del Trump.” Familiar faces returned together with Marcello Hernandez as a bashful Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Colin Jost as an explosive Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth consuming from a jar of protein combine.

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White House deputy coverage chief Stephen Miller, Johnson’s Trump mentioned, is “on the ceiling” someplace within the White House.

“Someone brought a Bible in here and he sort of scampered up the wall,” he mentioned.

Newcomer Ashley Padilla additionally debuted as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who thanked “my hair and makeup team, who obviously hate me.”

She went on to debate the unstable state of affairs in Minneapolis, the place the Trump administration has deployed lots of of federal officers to help his mass deportation agenda, met with a fierce resistance from protesters and exacerbated by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deadly capturing of 37-year-old Renee Good.

The Trump administration has repeatedly labeled Good an “agitator” who dedicated an act of “domestic terrorism” whereas masked federal brokers have been accused of brutalizing immigrants and civilians alike.

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“Obviously, there’s been clashes on both sides in Minneapolis,” Padilla mentioned. “And have we been perfect? Yes.”

She continued: “I know a lot of people looking at the situation in Minnesota are wondering the same thing, can I join ICE? Well, let me ask you this: is your neck wider than your head?

“Are you currently wearing a Punisher T-shirt? Have you ever punched a hole in the wall because your son took a dance class? If the answer is yes, then grab a gun, any gun, and saddle up big boy!”

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Jost’s aggressive portrayal of the Hegseth proved successful with followers when he debuted final season.

“Now listen up in case your ears are too fat to hear the news!” he mentioned as he joined the stage in his newest look. “We went into Venezuela and, how do you say? We tea-bagged their country!”

Next, the United States is “gonna sack-tap Iran,” he mentioned.

“I’m gonna tell him, ‘if Ayatollah you once, Ayatollah you 1,000 times. You don’t dare kill your protesters. That’s our thing!’” Jost mentioned.

“So just remember, you F with America, we’re gonna F you right back.”

The first sketch of the yr within the long-running sketch sequence follows the president’s suggestion that he may deploy army motion to intervene in Iran if protesters are killed. Despite his threats, monitoring teams say that lots of have died since Thursday, with extra 10,000 arrested.