President Trump's response to the unfolding humanitarian disaster in Puerto Rico was desperately inadequate (and that's putting it generously) until Saturday, when it became downright shameful. On Saturday morning, Trump unleashed a tweetstorm on the mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulín Cruz, who a day earlier criticized the government's response and pleaded for help. For only the second time, a Trump tweet—in which he referred to Yulín Cruz's "poor leadership"—achieved The Ratio, in which the number of comments outpace the likes, a sign that the tweet was beyond terrible.
So on Saturday night, SNL's season premiere opened with Alec Baldwin reprising his role as President Trump—and went straight after his response to Puerto Rico.
"Trust me, I know things are, as the locals say, Despecito," he says in a painful conversation with Yulín Cruz, who's played by Melissa Villaseñor.
After assuring her help will arrive on Tuesday or "Wednesday at the latest," and hearing Yulín Cruz say that's not soon enough, Baldwin's Trump says: "Well, you should have paid your bills. FEMA takes a few days unless you join FEMA Prime."
She explains to him that Puerto Rico is, in fact, part of the United States. And, at the end of the call, Baldwin's Trump calls her a "nasty woman." Aidy Bryant, as Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, stands by approvingly.
Baldwin also sat Attorney General Jeff Sessions, played by Kate McKinnon, on his lap and gave him a pep talk about loyalty, before ditching Sessions for Chuck Schumer.
