From preaching the promising ‘MAGDA’ slogan to introducing self-vandalizing Tesla EVs, SNL takes a roaring dig at Trump’s Tariff War

If they were giving marks for a sketch where courage and creativity met criticism, this week’s SNL cold open could earn a distinction with flying colors!
Saturday Night Live didn’t hold back on roasting the US President Donald Trump‘s sweeping new tariff plan that sent global stocks plunging this week. As James Austin Johnson took to the stage as President Donald Trump, promising to “Make America Great Depression Again” in a spoof of the president’s “Liberation Day” announcement in which he detailed his widespread tariffs, Mike Myers also made his return as Elon Musk to announce Tesla’s latest offering - the self-vandalizing EVs!


Last week, Trump announced 10% tariffs on all imports into the United States, and even higher tariffs on goods from about 60 countries or trading blocs that have a high trade deficit with the US.
The cold open on the NBC sketch comedy show kicked off with a voice narrating, “On Wednesday, President Trump gave a speech in the Rose Garden announcing his economic vision for America, including tariffs against almost every country we do business with, and like everything else so far in his presidency, it was a total home run. We go now to a presentation of Trump’s historically awesome speech.”
During the sequence, Johnson as Trump stood at the podium recreating Trump’s announcement in the Rose Garden, joking that his tariff plan would go for a solid ‘MAGDA’, which was the acronym of “Make America Great Depression again.”
As Johnson’s Trump remarked, “My favorite word, tariff, which of course is short for terrific idea. They’re the backbone of my incredible plan for our economy,” he went on to say, “It’s actually even better than a plan because it’s a series of random numbers. Like the numbers on the computer screen in Severance. No idea what the hell they mean, but I know what the numbers mean, OK? They mean we’re gonna Make America Wealthy Again.”

Johnson’s Trump added, “You know, you’re gonna check your stock portfolio in a couple of days and think, ‘I’m almost too wealthy with doing MAWA.’ But before that, we’re gonna do MAGDA, Make America Great Depression Again. But it’ll be better than great. It’ll be a fantastic, unbelievable depression, the likes of which you’ve never seen before.”
He then ‘joked’, saying, “We’ll be the ones eating the cats and the dogs,” referencing Trump’s comments about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio during the presidential debate in September.

As expected, Johnson’s Trump did not forget the penguins either.
He noted that “no country is safe from my tariffs. I even put tariffs on an island that is uninhabited by humans. It’s called Heard and McDonald Islands.”
For the unversed, the island near Antarctica is a remote territory inhabited by penguins.

SNL also took a perfectly-timed dig at Morgan Wallen, who was the musical guest on SNL last week.
As Johnson’s Trump quipped, “Oh, McDonald Island. I’d love to visit there, right? Can you imagine that, a Big Mac and a hula skirt?” he brought out some fake artwork he had made of his dream McDonald’s Island before adding, “There we go. Get me to God’s country, right?”

Just when Johnson’s Trump managed to mention South Africa, saying, “We need to send a message to countries who have been ripping us off, like South Africa. South Africa puts a 60% tariff on everything we send them, and they've never even sent us one good thing,” Mike Myers’ Elon Muck made an appearance, who is the South African-born head of DOGE.

Lamenting about the recent protests and vandalizations of Tesla cars, Myers’ Musk said, “Recently our dealerships have been the target of many attacks, and suddenly no one likes Tesla cars, so I asked myself why? And then I answered myself, because of me!”
He went on to bring out Tesla’s latest launch, saying, “Which is why we’re introducing the new Tesla Model V, the first electric car in history to be fully self-vandalizing, with features like self-smashing headlights, slashing tires, and AI-powered graffiti. You can choose from penises or swastikas, or my favorite, swastikas made out of penises.”
However, Johnson’s Trump did not forget to incorporate to comment on the rumors of Elon Musk’s exit, saying, “Elon is great, but sadly, it’s time to never see you again, OK?”