Is Donald Trump walking into a giant trap in hosting Saturday Night Live this week?
While pronouncements of trouble ahead for the Republican presidential candidate are so frequent they induce eye-rolling, Decider’s Meghan O’Keefe may be on to something- there’s a lot more in this for NBC than there is for The Donald.
As for Trump, the mogul might be walking into Studio 6H believing he’s doing the show a big favor — but he doesn’t know how big. The liberal-leaning Saturday Night Live writing staff has never been more prepped to take down Trump. He’s not just about to give the legendary sketch show one of its most-watched episodes ever, but he’s also offering himself up to be the butt of every joke.
It’s true that the ever-showboating Trump has always been game to poke fun at himself. It’s always seemed that he has the confidence of a man who knows that while you might be laughing at him, he’s laughing all the way to the bank. When Trump hosted Saturday Night Live in 2004, he was riding high as the host and producer of NBC’s biggest cash cow, The Apprentice. But running for President is different than keeping ratings up on a television show. As the face of The Apprentice it behooved Trump to speak his mind, crack the off-color joke, and boldly go where the politically correct could not dare go. Today, that same attitude makes him one of the most polarizing candidates in a veritable circus of a campaign season.
There was no reason for the Saturday Night Live cast and crew to mock anything but Trump’s overly bronzed image back in 2004. Trump was an important part of the NBC family, but today, he’s not. When Trump made a decision in the boardroom of The Apprentice, he was entertaining millions of Americans while dashing the dreams of one person. If he becomes President, those millions of guffawing Americans’ livelihoods will be in his hands. The stakes are higher and so, like every candidate, he deserves to be put through the gauntlet to prove his worth. Saturday Night Live probably won’t shy away from this task.