As the whole world predicted this past week, the return of Sarah Palin to the national stage in order to endorse Donald Trump for president meant the return of Tina Fey to Saturday Night Live.
It couldn’t have taken long for Lorne Michaels to reach out to his Palin-impersonating all-star, and she delivered the goods. Of course, the real Palin did much of the work when she showed up in Iowa to incoherently explain why Trump will “Make America Great Again.” All Fey had to do was put on her glasses and start talking.
Darrell Hammond’s Trump cut to the chase fast in Saturday night’s cold open, introducing Fey, who not only nailed Palin’s sparkly Iowa outfit but also her ultra-folksy populist message aimed at those who have lost their jobs over the past eight years, be it at the factory or on reality shows about Alaska.
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“We’ve seen our own children targeted by the police for no reason other than they committed some crimes,” she said, referring to her son’s recent run-in with the law. “We turn on the news every morning and are shocked to see we’re not even on it, because we’ve been replaced by immigrants like Geraldo Rivera.”
“She’s crazy, isn’t she?” Trump marveled.
“They say Trump and his trumpeters are right-wingin’, bitter-clingin’, proud of clingers of our guns,” Fey continued, repeating nearly verbatim what Palin said in her Iowa speech earlier in the week. “But he can kick ISIS ass, because he commands fire.”
“Guess what, America, I don’t really think this guy should be president,” she added later. “I’m just here ’cause he’s promised me a spot in his cabinet. And I belong in a cabinet ’cause I’m full of spice and I’ve got a great rack.”
