Saturday Night Live’s first sketch of 2026 brought out James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump and his “Cabinet of curiosities” for a status update on the administration’s threats to Iran, the capture 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,” said Johnson’s Trump after Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado gifted him her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize medal.
“And in my stocking I got Maduro – Nicolas Maduro,” he said. “We did a reverse Santa on him. We came down the chimney with a bag and took him away.”
The cold open sketch referenced the U.S. government’s capture of the ousted Venezuelan president now facing federal drug charges, with Trump vowing that U.S. oil companies will rebuild the South American nation’s oil and gas 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 including Marcello Hernandez as a bashful Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Colin Jost as an explosive Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth drinking from a jar of protein mix.
open image in galleryWhite House deputy policy chief Stephen Miller, Johnson’s Trump said, is “on the ceiling” somewhere in the White House.
“Someone brought a Bible in here and he sort of scampered up the wall,” he said.
Newcomer Ashley Padilla also debuted as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who thanked “my hair and makeup team, who obviously hate me.”
She went on to discuss the volatile situation in Minneapolis, where the Trump administration has deployed hundreds of federal officers to support his mass deportation agenda, met with a fierce resistance from protesters and exacerbated by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good.
The Trump administration has repeatedly labeled Good an “agitator” who committed an act of “domestic terrorism” while masked federal agents have been accused of brutalizing immigrants and civilians alike.
open image in gallery“Obviously, there's been clashes on both sides in Minneapolis,” Padilla said. “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!”
open image in galleryJost’s aggressive portrayal of the Hegseth proved a hit with fans when he debuted last season.
“Now listen up in case your ears are too fat to hear the news!” he said as he joined the stage in his latest appearance. “We went into Venezuela and, como se dice? We tea-bagged their country!”
Next, the United States is “gonna sack-tap Iran,” he said.
“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 said.
“So just remember, you F with America, we're gonna F you right back.”
The first sketch of the year in the long-running sketch series follows the president’s suggestion that he could deploy military action to intervene in Iran if protesters are killed. Despite his threats, monitoring groups say that hundreds have died since Thursday, with more 10,000 arrested.
