‘Happy World War III to All Who Celebrate!’ Trump and Hegseth Pilloried Over Iran Strike in SNL Cold Open

President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were skewered over the attack on Iran in a cutting Saturday Night Live sketch.

“Good evening and happy World War III to all who celebrate!” Trump — played by James Austin Johnson — announced at the start of Saturday night’s episode. “It’s me, Donald Trump FIFA Peace Prize winner and Nobel Peace Prize taker!”

The sketch jabbed at the president’s Board of Peace, saying, “I launched this attack after me and my Board of Peace decided that we were bored of peace.”

From there, SNL poked fun at the premise from some critics that the attack might have been part of a Wag the Dog effort from Trump.

“As we all know, Iran has been two weeks away from developing a nuclear weapon for, like, the last 15 years or something, so we had to act now. And we’re doing war. War! What is it good for? Distracting from the Epstein Files!” The president said.

SNL even made a meta gag acknowledging the hastily-executed sketch.

“People are asking, ‘Why attack Iran now?'” Trump said. “Well, we had to strike in the early hours of Saturday, which has two advantages militarily. One, it’s after the stock market closes for the weekend, and two, it’s to cause immeasurable fear,
rage, and chaos in the SNL writers’ room. Those guys were going crazy! They probably had a big State of the Union address thing they were gonna do. Not anymore!”

Then, Colin Jost was brought on to portray Pete Hegseth.

“As you probably heard, Operation Epic Fury is underway,” Hegseth said in a manner befitting a WWE wrestler “And as you could tell from the veins in my neck, I’m pumped! Why’d we call it Epic Fury? Simple. Eight letters. Lines up perfectly
for some bitchin’ knuckle tats!”

The sketch closed out with Jost’s Hegseth saying, “Bottom line, all of you should be thanking us. We took out a horrendous, horrible leader who was oppressing his own people.”

“But don’t get any ideas!” Trump added.

Watch above, via NBC.

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