This week’s Saturday Night Live cold open began in a festive manner but ended in darkness and despair, at least for U.S. President Donald Trump, played as usual by Alec Baldwin.
The skit is set in the Oval Office, where Trump is seen taking a break from the White House Christmas party.
He’s initially accompanied by a very inebriated Kellyanne Conway, who confesses, “I got so drunk I told the truth!”
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Conway encourages Trump to rejoin the party to celebrate the passing of the Republican tax bill, which she points out is his only achievement in office. But Trump declines, saying he’s in a “pouty mood” because of the Russia investigation.
He urges Conway to return to the party, insisting he can cheer himself up by watching the “hilarious Muslim videos” that he recently retweeted.
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Baldwin’s Trump then takes a seat at his desk, and says out loud that he’d like to take a private moment to reflect on all the good things he’s done this year.
“It’s only take a minute,” he says.
But Trump’s moment of private reflection is harshly interrupted by eerie music and smoke, which parts to show former national security adviser Michael Flynn draped in heavy chains.
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Flynn announces himself as “the ghost of witness flipped,” and tells Trump that it’s high time he comes clean “for the good of the country” — a phrase that leaves Trump visibly confused.
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Flynn then laments that he misses how simple life was before he got caught up in the FBI’s investigation of Russian collusion with the Trump campaign.
“Before all this, I had a great life Donald,” he says. “I was an honourable, twice-fired military man who loved to talk about how Hillary Clinton had a child sex ring in a pizza shop.”
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Trump then bemoans the fact that nobody warned him about Flynn’s checkered past, but Flynn then reminds him that Barack Obama did just that.
“Someone who’s American,” Trump clarifies.
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Flynn then warns Trump that three other ghosts from his past are arriving to haunt him; the first soon makes its presence in the form of former NBC “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush.
“I’m here to remind you of that Access Hollywood tape, my man,” Bush says, before pondering how he got fired just for listening to Trump’s lewd comments, while Trump managed to get elected president.
He then warns that “these things catch up with all of us,” before leaving.
READ MORE: ‘I wish I had changed the subject’: Billy Bush opens up about Trump ‘Access Hollywood’ tape
The next “ghost” to appear is that of a shirtless Vladimir Putin.
“Donald, you can’t hide from me. I see and hear everything you do,” the Russian president warns.
Putin then proceeds to chide Trump for his volatility, reminding him that “we put a lot of time and money into you but you’re going to mess it up.”
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Trump apologizes, and then tells Putin he’d like to ask him a question.
“Do you think I’m cool?” he asks, appearing to crave Putin’s approval.
Putin looks put off by the question, and hurriedly makes excuses to leave.
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Flynn then warns Trump that the scariest of the ghosts of his past is yet to come. Haunting music plays, and a Grim-Reaper-like figure walks into the room.
While the Grim Reaper has traditionally been depicted as Steve Bannon in SNL skits past, that isn’t the case this time around.
The Reaper’s hood is lifted, and much to Trump’s surprise and horror, it’s his old nemesis Hillary Clinton.
“You, Donald, have given me the greatest Christmas gift of all,” Clinton tells a terrified Trump. “Sexual satisfaction in the form of your slow demise… lock him up!”
Saturday Night Live airs on Global TV.
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