SNL’s Trump says ‘Cuba is next’ alongside Marcello’s Marco Rubio

Saturday Night Live’s cold open has cleverly incorporated all of Trump’s questionable moments

By Aamna Razi January 18, 2026
SNL’s Trump says ‘Cuba is next’ alongside Marcello’s Marco Rubio
SNL’s Trump says ‘Cuba is next’ alongside Marcello’s Marco Rubio

Saturday Night Live is back, and the cold open has managed to integrate all the surprising moments around Donald Trump and his administration so far.

The skit begins with James Austin Johnson as the President of the United States, recapping his Christmas wish list.

“I got what I wanted — my very own someone else’s Nobel Prize,” he stated at the very beginning of the prize he got from Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado.

Johnson also talked about doing a reverse Santa on Nicolás Maduro, since they went down the chimney and took him away.

The faux Trump then introduced the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, portrayed by Marcello Hernández saying that him and JD Vance where helping him do legal-ish things to shift people’s attention from Jeffrey Epstein.

Marco then passes him a note, hilariously recreating the real moment in which the attorney had passed the businessman a note, seemingly to read to himself which he ended up reading out loud.

“ Marco’s passing me a note here, don’t read this out loud but maybe don’t talk about that also do you like me” circle yes or no. Marco, I’m gonna need a third option. Marco’s from Cuba and Cuba is ‘next’” he added ominously.

Notably, he remarked at the end that the midterms were cancelled, which is something that the President apparently jokingly said in a recent interview.

What celebrity has been on SNL the most?

Alec Baldwin, who was featured in Rust, is the most recurring celebrity on Saturday Night Live.

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