Tom Hanks returned to Saturday evening live as David S. Pumpkins for a Halloween-themed opening, although his skit was suddenly interrupted by Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) as he implored his supporters to try to prevent a possible midterm drubbing.
“The midterm elections are Tuesday and the polls say we’re doing very poorly,” Trump said of Johnson. “Ahhh. They say Texas turns purple, just like my hands. And if it turns blue, then just like my hand, I’ll leave it for dead.”
The sketch spoofed some of Trump’s midterm closing messages, including his admiration for men’s butts, the suggestion that Nicki Minaj would be his new press secretary and some of the strange grunts he made at rallies.
It’s been a little over 10 years since Hanks first appeared as Pumpkins, a strange man who appears in a Halloween attraction dressed in a cheap black and orange pumpkin costume and flanked by two men in dancing skeleton outfits. Hanks’ first appearance as the character took place just weeks before Trump’s first election to the White House.
Saturday’s opening began with a couple taking a ride at an amusement park, only to be confused by the appearance of Pumpkins in what was supposed to be a scary attraction. Then Trump interrupted the skit, noting that the pumpkins “keep appearing and confusing people during the ride. The end!”
Johnson’s Trump continued: “But you know, I actually have a lot in common with Mr. Pumpkins. We both came up in 2016. We’re both very loud, very orange and quite frankly annoying, but we love Tom Hanks.”
Hanks tried to stay in freeze frame while Johnson’s Trump spoke. “Look at him there. Good acting, great ass,” Trump said. “That’s something I’ve been doing lately: admiring men’s asses. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – just that I might be gay.”
In reality, Trump was talking about men’s butts — particularly the butts of Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH), who is seeking to retain his seat against Democrat Sherrod Brown.
Johnson’s Trump continued: “They call it gay dementia. Dementia, short for dementia, show me their butts.”
The skit also referenced the U.S. Senate race in Texas, where Trump and Republicans invested heavily in Ken Paxton’s race against Democrat James Talarico, hoping to prevent the U.S. Senate from flipping. But Paxton experienced a series of corruption scandals that made the race difficult, and even Trump noticed the candidate’s lackluster appearance.
Johnson’s Trump said: “You have to vote for that horrible Ken Paxton. My God, what an ugly son of a bitch! I hate, I hate Ken Paxton, but you have to vote for him because we can’t have that Talafreako, who is honestly much nicer and wow, what a dynamite ass! That’s like a pillowcase full of comfort there.”
The skit also featured an appearance by Saidah Belo-Osagie as Minaj, who has attended Trump rallies. “She’s got one hell of an ass. If only it was on a man, maybe I could admire it,” Trump said of Johnson.
Veronika Slowikowska also made a brief appearance as Katie Zacharia, whose recent stint as press secretary lasted less than a week. The real Zacharia had talked about who she wanted to play her SNLand mentioned Scarlett Johansson. This was not to be the case.
Gn entert
