President Trump (James Austin Johnson) used a man’s collapse in the Oval Office as an excuse to monologue about Zohran Mamdani’s election in New York City and the government shutdown in tonight’s “Saturday Night Live” cold open.
Mikey Day’s Eli Lilly head opened the segment flanked by Dr. Oz (Marcello Hernandez) and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (Andrew Dismukes). In a nod to one of this week’s strangest real-life moments, his press conference about lowering the costs of weight loss drugs was cut short when one of the event’s attendees (Jeremy Culhane) collapsed to the floor.
“SNL” then panned its camera to Johnson’s Trump, who turned to directly address the audience. “Oh, hi! Didn’t see you there. Someone was dying in my office,” the president joked. “I think I’m playing this very normal. Just stand there and stare like a sociopath. I didn’t even pretend like I was gonna help, like when someone drops something and you do the fake bend, you know?”
Johnson’s Trump then walked around his desk, stepping over Culhane’s unconscious observer along the way, to continue his address. “Each week, I like to create a big visual that sort of sums up how things are going,” the president explained. “Last week, it was the demolishing of the East Wing. This week, it’s a medical professional almost dying in my Oval Office at the mere thought of charging less for drugs.”
You can watch the full “SNL” cold open yourself in the video below.
Trump responds to someone collapsing in the Oval Office pic.twitter.com/7xxFegYOPc
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) November 9, 2025
Johnson’s Trump eventually touched on Mamdani’s recent mayoral win, remarking, “I can’t believe they elected Mamdani.” He subsequently confessed, “You know, I’m torn because I like a winner, but I’m not crazy about a Muslim. Maybe he’ll convert, right? We’ll put him in line behind Irsha [sic] Vance, and I hope I’m pronouncing that wrong.”
“Our side had some wins this week, too,” Johnson’s Trump argued. “The Supreme Court said we could stop feeding poor people. You can clap for that. SNAP! Snap! For those of you who can afford food — actually, no, you can’t. I promised grocery prices would plummet, and they did. They plummeted straight up!”
The president then shifted his attention to the ongoing government shutdown. “The government is still shut down, all thanks to the Democrats and some Republicans and all Republicans and me,” he noted, before offering viewers some words of… encouragement?
“For anyone worried about the state of the country, I’ll say the same thing I said to Melania when she tried to help me do my hair,” Johnson’s Trump said. “‘Go away. What I’m doing is very complicated, and only I know how to do it.’”
