Donald Trump is Russia's 'Manchurian candidate' as 'Saturday Night Live' debuts John Goodman as oil mogul Rex Tillerson
BY
NICOLE HENSLEY
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Sunday, December 18, 2016, 1:50 AM
Donald Trump may be America’s gift to Russia.
A shirtless Vladimir Putin shimmied into Trump Tower through a chimney to finally meet his President-elect on the latest holiday-themed episode of “Saturday Night Live.”
“We in Russia, we are so happy that you’re U.S. president. We think you are the best candidate, the smartest candidate — the Manchurian candidate," said SNL cast member Beck Bennett, as the Russian leader.
The sketch show brought actor Alec Baldwin back to the set to taunt Trump and the Russian hack job that may have played a part in Trump’s November election victory. Both FBI Director James B. Comey and Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. sided with a CIA assessment that Russia meddled in the close race, officials said Friday.
The Kremlin has denied its involvement in the U.S. election.
Saturday Night Live's cold open saw John Goodman's Rex Tillerson plot with Beck Bennett's Vladimir Putin as Alec Baldwin's Donald Trump looked on.
(NBC)
SNL’s interpretation of Russia’s strongman snuck into Trump’s Manhattan office like Santa Claus to deliver a Christmas present — an Elf on the Shelf.
“It’s fun, you just put it right here next to your internet router,” Putin said of the suspicious holiday toy, depicted in a children's book as a spy for Santa.
An NBC report alleged Putin, a former KGB agent, personally oversaw the hacking operation to help Trump win, and as a result, regain its economic footing globally — possibly through oil dealings as depicted by SNL.
Putin appeared to lose all eyes for Baldwin’s Trump the moment Exxon Mobil Corp Chief Executive Rex Tillerson walked through the door.
Bennett's Putin give Baldwin's Trump a suspicious gift.
(NBC)
The oil mogul, portrayed by actor John Goodman, shared a secret handshake with Putin and gushed over future oil plans during the cold open. After all, the President-elect’s secretary of state picked was honored with Russia’s Order of Friendship in 2013 after signing a deal with Russian oil company Rosneft to drill in the Arctic’s Kara Sea.
Trump was silent on Twitter following Baldwin’s appearance — unlike the tirade bashing Baldwin and the NBC show he unleashed in the middle of SNL and again the following morning, earlier this month.
Weekend Update co-anchor Colin Jost said Trump repeatedly shrugging off the former Cold War rival’s hacking allegations would be comparable to President Franklin D. Roosevelt saying “we don’t know it was Japan” after the Pearl Harbor attack.
“It could have been some fat guy on a couch somewhere,” Jost mused.
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Although cast member Kate McKinnon has mostly resigned her portrayal of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for Trump’s senior advisor Kellyanne Conway, she returned in lampooning “Love Actually.”
McKinnon, as Clinton, offered to buy off an electoral voter with a $1,000 check to protest Trump’s election win.
“You don’t even have to vote for me. I’m coo,” Clinton said, fumbling through a stack of cue cards like Andrew Lincoln’s character in the 2003 Christmas flick. “Just vote for literally anyone else, like John Kasich, Tom Hanks, The Rock — a rock.”
The Electoral College — 538 men and women — is expected to cast their votes for Trump on Monday. If they fail to confirm Trump’s electoral win, Jost’s co-host Michael Che predicts Trump will react like a chimpanzee with a machine gun — poorly.
“Enjoy your holiday but keep in mind, if Donald Trump becomes president, he will kill us all,” the faux Clinton added.