Questions about tech investor Elon Musk’s extraordinary influence in President Donald Trump’s White House found answers that doubled as punchlines on “Saturday Night Live.”
The show, headed for the season’s finish line after celebrations and wall-to-wall performances over a weekend of 50th anniversary programming last month, tapped into the cynical mojo that helped it launch three generations ago by reflecting a sense of chaos in Trump’s second-term administration.
With James Austin Johnson returning as a free-range Trump and Mike Myers reprising his role as Musk hovering near the president like a wisecracking helicopter parent, the show followed the money.
The cold open found the two in the Oval Office with Marcello Hernández’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio as Trump attempted to fix Rubio’s relationship with Musk as the two have reportedly clashed over Musk’s firing employees without giving consideration to whether letting them go would improve or harm his agency.
Johnson’s Trump said he couldn’t tolerate the infighting, especially as he returned to the White House for what “otherwise has been a smooth” start to his term.
“I need you to be my good ‘Little Marco,’” Trump said, employing a nickname the president used for Rubio when the two battled for the Republican nomination for president in 2016.
Hernández’s Rubio seemed insulted, saying that if Trump thinks he’s just going to stand there and let the president call him that, “You’re right.”
Following a collision between a passenger jet and military helicopter that killed 67 on Jan. 30 and the crash the next day of an air ambulance jet that killed six, Trump suggested Myers’ Musk is the aviation expert the country needs.
“He runs SpaceX, which is doing incredible things in terms of explosions,” Trump said in an apparent reference to the recent explosion of a SpaceX rocket.
And, speaking of Rubio’s leadership, Trump said, “He’s the GOAT. He’s the scapegoat, but it’s still a type of goat.”
But when Rubio told Trump he was close to concluding an agreement that would include U.S. control of the Panama Canal, a move the president desired in real life, SNL’s Trump said, “I don’t want it anymore,” instead coveting Thailand because of its appearance on “White Lotus.”
The president was focused on getting Musk and Rubio to “work things out,” noting, “Everyone that has ever worked for me has left on good terms.”
As Trump hosted the domestic peace summit, Musk began a dialogue in his mind, saying, “People really hate me” before placing a pinky finger to a corner of his mouth in the style of the villain in Myers’ “Austin Powers” movie franchise, Dr. Evil.
“My personal net worth has dropped by $100 billion dollars,” he said of Musk’s sacrifice to be at Trump’s side.
Johnson’s Trump responded, “America is doing bad guy now.”
Trump had reassuring words for those concerned about Musk’s role slashing jobs and budgets within the federal government: “You’re not the boss,” he said.
Musk blocked those words in a blink, saying, “But I paid you $300 million dollars,” referring to the more than $250 million Musk spent boosting Trump during his campaign for president.
Trump snapped out of any anti-Musk hypnosis that may have influenced him, responding, “And that’s why you’re the boss.”
Lady Gaga appeared as host and musical guest.
“SNL” airs on NBC, a division of NBCUniversal, which is also the parent company of NBC News.
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