Former President Donald Trump (played by James Austin Johnson) showed no sympathy for residents of disaster-stricken East Palestine, Ohio, in a “Saturday Night Live” cold open sketch based on his recent visit to the community. (You can watch the parody below.)
Johnson’s Trump, who poked fun at the former president’s water bottle-laden visit this past week, fired on all cylinders as he mocked President Joe Biden, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
He also weighed in on criticism over the Trump administration’s rollback of rail safety regulations.
“I did a lot for trains. I made them bigger, faster, less safe, perhaps,” Johnson said.
“I’m here paying my respects because your train exploded and now your birds and fish are all dead, that’s got to not be so great — wake up in the morning and not hear the beautiful chirping of birds and instead hear trains exploding and derailing all over the place.”
He later set the stage at a faux press conference with Emily Kohrs (played by Chloe Fineman), the foreperson of the grand jury that investigated Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
“She’s got a very big secret for such a kooky little lady,” Johnson said.
“Potentially, I might, I don’t know, eeeeeeeeh,” said Fineman as she made a series of faces, poking fun at Kohrs’ exaggerated facial expressions during recent media appearances.
You can watch more of the “SNL” bit below.
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