Nikki Haley made a surprise appearance in the Saturday Night Live cold open, this time as a “concerned South Carolina voter” asking questions of Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) at a CNN town hall.
The skit had Gayle King and Charles Barkley, hosts of CNN’s King Charles, moderating the town hall with the former president, with Johnson again playing up Trump’s propensity to sprinkle in political rhetoric with pop culture stream of consciousness.
Haley, who has stepped up her attacks on Trump following the New Hampshire primary, drew loud applause from the SNL audience as she appeared in the town hall audience to ask him a question.
“Why won’t you debate Nikki Haley?” she asked Trump.
Johnson, as Trump, replied, “Oh my God. It’s her, the woman who was in charge of security on January 6th. It’s Pelosi.”
That was a dig at Trump’s gaffe several weeks ago, in which he mistook his main GOP rival for former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Haley has needled Trump continuously over it, suggesting that it is a sign that he’s not quite with it.
In the skit, she asked him, “Are you doing OK Donald? You might need a mental competency test.”
“You know what I did. I took the test and I aced it,” Johnson’s Trump said, defensively. “Perfect score. They said I was 100% mental and because I am a man. That’s why a woman never should run our economy. Women are terrible with money. In fact, a woman I know recently asked me for $83.3 million.”
Then Haley said, “And you spent $50 million in your own legal fees. Do you need to borrow some money?”
Trump responded, “Oh, Nikki, don’t do this. Nikki. Nikki. Nikki don’t lose that number. Nikki Haley Joel Osment. Nikki Haley Joel Osment we call her. Sixth Sense. Remember that. I see dead people.”
Then Haley interjected, “That’s what voters will say if they see you and Joe on the ballot.”
The sketch finished with Haley making reference to one of her own gaffes, when at a New Hampshire town hall in late December she declined to say “slavery” when asked what caused the Civil War.
This time, this week’s SNL host Ayo Edebiri asked her, “I was just curious. What would you say was the main cause of the Civil War? And do you think it starts with an “S” and ends with a “lavery”?
“Yes, I probably should have said that the first time. And live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”
Haley later tweeted about her appearance, writing, “Had a blast tonight on SNL! Know it was past Donald’s bedtime so looking forward to the stream of unhinged tweets in the a.m.”
More to come.
