Sleepy Trump Dreams of Zohran Mamdani While Pete Hegseth Rants About War Crimes and Booze in Wacky ‘SNL’ Cold Open

Donald Trump didn’t throw much support behind Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in the cold open of the Dec. 6 episode of “Saturday Night Live.”

Colin Jost reprised his role as Hegseth, berating the press as they were asking about the United States’ strikes on boats that were alleged to be operated by narco-terrorists. After calling one journalist fat and berating another for being single, he made a less-than-believable denial that the military operation went as planned.

“That kind of cruel, heartless act has no place in operation ‘Kill Everybody,’” Jost-as-Hegseth said. “Second, I wasn’t even in the room when it happened. OK, I was so jacked up after the first strike I had to make an emergency call to my sponsor .. I’m sorry, a guy I met at an anonymous meeting. So I don’t drink something I want, but I can’t have. But I want it and I need it and I want it right now. It’s booze.”

Hegseth then brought out James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump as support, but the president was too busy sleeping and dreaming about newly-elected NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani, mumbling that the politician can “freeze my rent anytime.”

Trump then woke up enough to say, “I stand by Pete and nothing can change my mind. Unless, of course, he could hurt me in any way, in which case I’ll throw him under one of Mamdani’s free buses.”

Watch the cold open below.