It’s one of those times when the writers of Saturday Night Live probably thought they were mocking Donald Trump to his face without him knowing it. One of the faults of the former president is that he should probably let things slide, though he knows when he’s being mocked depending on the situation. One of the most brutal roastings he endured was Barack Obama at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Trump got his revenge by winning the 2016 election.
In 2015, a skit on SNL depicted America in 2018. Trump is president, and he’s meeting with members of his cabinet and senior staff, where they discuss how the nation is in trouble: they’re exhausted from winning. The economy is booming, and the Mexican president shows up with a check to pay for the wall. The punchlines didn’t land most of the time, but even the ones meant to portray this then-futuristic situation as ridiculous are lost because most of the things said here pretty much came true:
Holy shlit
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) February 1, 2024
This was a 2015 SNL skit joking about what America would look like under a President Donald Trump
They surprisingly nailed it
pic.twitter.com/aH3We08K5l
In a rare instance, the writers had a crystal ball. The economy did a massive rebound in two years after Trump’s inauguration. Consumer and small business confidence hit record highs, unemployment across the board dropped to historic lows, and companies began to cut employee bonus checks by the thousands. They also repatriated offshore cash deposits since Trump cut the corporate tax rate—Apple repatriated close to $300 billion in 2018. The border was secure. Peace and prosperity were hallmark characteristics of the Trump presidency until COVID hit.
The skit is eerie because everything here, including Trump taking a katana to ISIS, mostly came true.