🎭 A Cold Open for a Warming Crisis

On April 5, 2025 episode of Saturday Night Live, viewers were greeted with a familiar sight—James Austin Johnson’s uncanny portrayal of Donald Trump—and an even more familiar theme: economic chaos, fueled by sweeping new tariffs. The cold open, titled “Make America Great Depression Again,” was a biting and surreal satire of Trump’s latest attempt to reset the American economy through aggressive import taxes.

With markets spiraling and economic uncertainty rising, SNL didn’t waste a moment. Their cold open delivered a rapid-fire series of absurd vignettes featuring Trump riffing on the economy, fast food, and geopolitical strategy—while launching a mock plan to revive the U.S. through a policy of isolationism dressed in nationalist rhetoric.

“It’s called MAGDA,” Johnson’s Trump said. “Make America Great Depression Again. It’s going to be a tremendous depression, folks. The best depression. Unbelievable.”

📉 Trump’s Tariffs: Comedy and History Collide

The sketch may have been a joke, but it wasn’t far from real headlines. Earlier that week, Donald Trump, now in the middle of another presidential bid, announced a new round of widespread tariffs as part of his “Liberation Day” economic strategy. His remarks were laced with nationalist pride and historical revisionism, claiming the Great Depression could have been avoided if the U.S. had simply kept tariffs in place.

“It’s actually better than a plan—it’s a series of random numbers,” SNL’s Trump said. “Like the computer screen in Severance. You don’t know what they mean, but I do.”

The phrase “Trump tariffs make America great depression again” was peppered throughout the sketch, grounding the absurdity in real-world concerns.

Economists and historians, of course, widely agree that tariffs like the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 made the Great Depression worse by fueling a global trade war. Yet, in the world of SNL, this revisionist approach was amplified into parody—with Trump handing out McDonald’s Island maps featuring palm trees made of fries and Big Macs in hula skirts.

🐈 From Cheesecake Factory to Braised Cat Meat

The sketch was a whirlwind of bizarre references that blurred the line between comedy and reality. Trump’s monologue touched on everything from Cheesecake Factory’s economic indicators to the culinary benefits of cat meat.

“You know the depression is going to be so great—we’ll be the ones eating the cats and dogs. That’s going to be fun,” he said, referencing his own prior conspiracy theories about immigrants eating pets during the 2024 campaign.

Such absurdity has become a calling card for Johnson’s portrayal, where non-sequiturs, self-praise, and surreal imagery coalesce into a caricature of Trump’s real rhetorical style.

🤖 Enter Elon Musk: The Feud Continues

The cold open’s surrealism peaked when Mike Myers entered the scene as Elon Musk, Trump’s eccentric and now estranged adviser. The two traded barbs before Musk unveiled a new self-vandalizing Tesla, complete with a graffiti option: a swastika or a penis.

“Swastikas or penises,” Trump smirked. “We are truly the party of Lincoln.”

The segment alluded to real-life friction between Musk and Trump following dealership protests and stock tumbles. In the SNL version of America, absurdity isn’t a bug—it’s a central feature of political discourse.

🕰️ Trump and Tariffs: A History of Economic Nationalism

To understand the resonance of the phrase “Trump tariffs make America great depression again,” you have to go back to Trump’s first term.

Between 2017 and 2021, Trump weaponized tariffs as part of his “America First” policy. He levied billions of dollars in import taxes on China, the European Union, and even traditional allies like Canada. The goal was to boost domestic manufacturing, but the result was rising consumer prices, retaliatory tariffs, and trade uncertainty that rattled global markets.

In 2018, Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs led to a near-trade war with key partners, impacting industries from automobiles to agriculture. American farmers, hit hardest by China’s retaliation, received billions in bailouts—funded by taxpayers. Critics called it a self-inflicted wound, and economists warned of inflation and slowed growth.

Now, as he seeks to return to office, Trump is doubling down on that same economic strategy—hence the SNL cold open that makes the past prologue.

💬 SNL’s Legacy of Mocking Power

Saturday Night Live has always reflected—and skewered—the political zeitgeist. From Chevy Chase’s bumbling Gerald Ford to Alec Baldwin’s haunted Trump, the show’s cold opens have helped shape public perception of American presidents.

But Johnson’s Trump takes things a step further. His performance is eerily accurate, down to the nasal tone, random tangents, and self-contradictory bluster. In this sketch, Johnson didn’t just imitate Trump—he embodied the surreal political logic that has come to define the last decade.

“I want to go to there. Tina!” he yells, a self-aware nod to 30 Rock and a wink at the show’s own history.

The sketch ends as chaotically as it began, with Trump declaring, “Everything is going to be fine and/or bad,” summing up both the sketch and the public mood.

📹 Watch the Cold Open:

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