SNL Cold Open tackles US-Iran strikes

At this point, anything President Donald Trump does feels like it’s already been workshopped in the Saturday Night Live writers’ room. The line between satire and reality is practically gone at this point.

This week, with global tensions spiking, the Cold Open returned to familiar territory: James Austin Johnson behind a podium, doing his uncanny Trump, explaining why the United States launched attacks on Iran.

“What is war good for?” Johnson’s Trump begins. “Distracting from the Epstein files.”

Subtle, it is not.

The broadcast aired just hours after the United States, in coordination with Israel, launched strikes on Iranian military targets. This then prompted retaliatory attacks, and what Vox describes as the start to a “far-reaching and open-ended war.”

Colin Jost’s Pete Hegseth then entered the Cold Open to blaring patriotic rock, brimming with Fox News bravado. “Don’t let my confident demeanor fool you,” Jost’s Hegseth declared. “I’m scared and don’t know what I’m doing.”