Lorne Michaels Says That Denouncing Trump Doesn’t Work, So He Platforms Trump Instead
Saturday Night Live creator and NBC superpower Lorne Michaels says that he “obviously” doesn’t have the same politics as President Donald Trump, but, hey, ratings are ratings, I guess.
Back in November 2015, businessman, casino-bankrupter and failed steak salesman Donald Trump hosted Saturday Night Live five months after he began his chaotic presidential campaign. At the time, Trump was far from the frontrunner in the Republican primary, and the media treated the future President like he was a hilarious side-show and a ratings machine rather than a genuine threat to completely upend American democracy for the next decade. And, naturally, at the front of the line to cash in on Trump’s exponentially increasing popularity was Michaels, ready with an SNL offer and some sketches about how beautiful and huge his Mexican-funded border wall would be.
Today, Trump is, arguably, SNL’s longest-running antagonist, with impressionist James Austin Johnson leading the charge in the show’s weekly ridicule campaign against the commander-in-chief. However, in a recent talk with Puck founder Matthew Belloni, Michaels expressed his belief that publicly condemning President Trump isn’t going to change any of his supporters’ minds, since we all know who and what Trump is a decade into his takeover of America.
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If only Michaels knew what Trump was capable of back in 2015 — maybe he would have added the President to the Five-Timers Club.
When the topic of Trump’s possible involvement in the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert arose, Michaels wouldn’t say whether politics played a part in Paramount Global’s controversial decision, though he admitted that the threat of interference by Trump’s FCC looms large across the entire TV industry. Despite that, the SNL don doesn’t believe that the answer to the Trump problem in comedy is for every network to take up arms against him.
“Whatever crimes Trump is committing, he’s doing it in broad daylight. There is absolutely nothing that the people who vote for him — or me — don’t know. You know what I mean?” Michaels said of the public opinion on the President, adding of Trump’s influence, “He is a really powerful media figure. He knows how to hold an audience. That’s a very powerful thing, and I think it was always underestimated. His politics are obviously not my politics, but denouncing (him) doesn’t work.”
Of course, Michaels never underestimated Trump’s ability to “hold an audience,” as, just two months before Trump would win the 2016 Presidential Election, he appeared on the Michaels-produced The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where the SNL alumnus famously tousled Trump’s distinct blond hairdo.
And who could forget when, shortly after Trump left the White House in 2021, Michaels booked controversial tech magnate and Trump ally/bankroller Elon Musk to host SNL, and the cast did the same awkward dance of sycophancy that Michaels made the 2016 group perform for Trump?
All the while, SNL has spent every season of Trump’s presidency lambasting him and parodying his every press conference with a rotating cast of impression experts and A-list talents playing the commander-in-chief. While Michaels may not think that denouncing Trump “works” from a political perspective, he certainly isn’t going to ignore the hunger that SNL’s moderately liberal target audience has for anti-Trump comedy that coddles them into believing what Michaels doesn’t: that the art of mockery can combat fascism.
Michaels has never doubted Trump’s power in the media — in fact, he’s been banking on it for the last decade. Whether the SNL head agrees with the President’s politics or not, Michaels is drawn to Trump and the cultural power of the far-right movement like a moth to a flame, or like Fallon’s fingers to a lock of dyed dictator hair.
