SNL’s March 14, 2026, episode featured a political cold open that mocked President Trump’s broken campaign promises that included gas prices and an ongoing war with Iran. The impactful opening, which saw James Austin Johnson take on his iconic role of Donald Trump on the show, started a search trend on the internet about the actor portraying the iconic role.
‘Who Plays Donald Trump on SNL?’ trend explained
‘Who Plays Donald Trump on SNL?’ has been trending since SNL’s March 14, 2026, episode, which featured a cleverly written cold open that mocked Donald Trump’s campaign promises, which he did not keep. The role of the current President was taken up by actor and comedian James Austin Johnson. This is not the first time that the actor took on this skit, but it is perhaps the time this resonated the most with fans.
The satirical take saw Johsnon as Trump being confronted by a family at a gas station. It also targeted Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
“You might remember me from such campaign promises as lower gas prices and no more wars,” Johnson said to the family in the skit, “Psych! We love to make promises, because a promise is just a lie that hasn’t happened yet.” He added, “Now it has, and gas costs like a million, billion dollars a gallon.”
This was a reference to Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz trade route after military strikes. Johsnon also referenced the night’s host, Harry Styles, a former member of One Direction, and said, “The stock market is going in one direction: Down.”
Colin Jost’s Hegseth also entered the picture soon, emerging from the backseat of a random car. When asked why he was there, Jost said, “I’ll tell you the same thing I say when people ask about our plans for Iran: I don’t know.”
This sketch led to the search trends around Donald Trump on SNL. It has also been discussed widely on a variety of social media platforms.
