The first Saturday Night Live episode of 2026 wasted no time diving into the political fray, delivering a packed cold open that satirized the entire White House cabinet under former President Donald Trump and a recent controversial military intervention.
A Nobel Prize with a Tape-Job
The sketch, which aired this weekend, opened with James Austin Johnson reprising his role as Trump. The impersonator boasted about his Christmas gifts, specifically two souvenirs from a U.S. forces raid into Venezuela in early January. The centerpiece was a Nobel Peace Prize, but not one he earned.
"I got what I wanted: My very own someone else's Nobel Prize," Johnson's Trump gloated, holding up a framed award where his name was sloppily taped over the original recipient's. The bit referenced a real event from the previous Thursday, where Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado handed her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump in an apparent bid for favor as the U.S. tightened its control over the oil-rich nation.
The comedy continued with Trump claiming Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro had turned up in his stocking, calling the president's capture on January 3 a "reverse-Santa." "We came down the chimney with a bag and took him away," he said of Maduro, who was portrayed as now facing drug charges in U.S. custody.
The 'Cabinet of Curiosities' Takes the Stage
Johnson's Trump then introduced his cabinet, which he described as a collection of "various monsters and nightmares from the twisted mind of Guillermo del Trump," a nod to filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. The sketch proceeded to lampoon key figures.
Ashley Padilla, playing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in full glam and a cowboy hat, attempted to downplay outrage over a surge of immigration enforcement in Minnesota. She dismissed clashes in Minneapolis and the January 7 killing of a woman by an ICE agent, declaring, "And have we been perfect? Yes."
Padilla's Noem then issued a brutal recruitment pitch for ICE, asking: "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?" She concluded, "If the answer is 'yes,' then grab a gun, any gun, and saddle up, big boy."
Crass Foreign Policy and Kettlebell Thrusts
Next, a boisterous Colin Jost took the podium as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, clutching a tub of creatine. He crudely summarized the administration's military posture regarding Venezuela: "We went into Venezuela and como se dice? We tea-bagged their country."
Jost's Hegseth continued, "We've been rockin' out with our C's out all over the world. We dunked on Venezuela. Next, we're gonna sack-tap Iran." He also issued a warning to other nations about suppressing protests, stating, "You don't dare kill your protestors, that's our thing," a dark reference to political protests that have left hundreds dead.
The segment ended with Hegseth mimicking the real secretary's viral fitness routine, swinging a kettlebell with suggestive hip thrusts after threatening, "So just remember, you 'F' with America, we're gonna 'F' you right back."
The sketch served as a whirlwind return for the long-running show, using sharp satire to critique the administration's foreign policy actions, immigration enforcement, and the personalities shaping its agenda.
