Amy Poehler and Tina Fey reunited on “SNL” once more last week, this time to play Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem, respectively. Speaking as someone who knows Bondi on Monday morning, “The View” host Ana Navarro guessed that the attorney general is probably “loving” the attention she’s getting on screen right now.
During the day’s Hot Topics discussion on the sketch, moderator Whoopi Goldberg needed a moment to compose herself after just seeing a clip of it. She was able to compose herself quickly though, teeing up the actual question of whether leaning into the joke was a smart move by Bondi.
Indeed, following the episode, Bondi posted an image of Fey and Poehler, tagged Noem, and asked if they should re-create the photo in Chicago (where ICE and the Trump administration are not wanted and are violating court orders). To Navarro, it read like Bondi thinking it’s a good thing to be mocked on “SNL.”
“And probably for her, with the MAGA base and with Trump, it is a good thing,” Navarro said. “And I think being skewered and imitated on ‘Saturday Night Live’ — we’ve all been imitated — is kind of like a rite of passage.”
Navarro then noted that she’s known Bondi personally for a long time, with the caveat that she “obviously” hasn’t spoken to the attorney general in a few years.
“Bot I think she’s loving this. I think she’s loving — the fact that we are talking about her this morning, is probably raising her stock with the MAGA base,” Navarro continued.
“But frankly I think what she’s doing to the institution of the DOJ and the oversight in congress is shameful, and embarrassing, and is going to go down in history as one of the worst performances by an attorney general in front of congress.”
That said, host Sara Haines argued that there weren’t many options for Bondi when it came to deciding how to react to the “SNL” sketch.
“I think the only way you can reply to comedy, and look like you can take a joke, is by doing what she did,” Haines said. “I think the only way to handle jokes like that are to just lean into them, because otherwise you just look dumb.”
“These people may not need much help to look dumb,” Navarro retorted.
“The View” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.
