Saturday Night Live: Was this Alec Baldwin’s swan song as Trump?
As Trump sang his way out, host Dwayne Johnson announced he was running for president in 2020.
After Donald Trump's surprising victory during the 2016 presidential election, Saturday Night Live responded by having Hillary Clinton, portrayed by cast member Kate McKinnon, perform "Halleluja" by Leonard Cohen, who had died that previous week.
"I'm not giving up and neither should you," McKinnon's Clinton said following her character's swan song.
Last night, during the final episode of SNL's most popular season in 20 years, Donald Trump, played once again by Alec Baldwin, opened the show behind a piano to offer his own version of "Hallelujah." He was joined one by one by his memorable cast of aides and family members, including the grim reaper stand-in for chief advisor Steve Bannon and Scarlett Johansson as his daughter, Ivanka.
Could this have been Baldwin's own swan song as Trump? The 59-year-old actor has said that he's open to returning to the show next season, but told the Hollywood Reporter this week, "I have other things I'm going to do, so I guess we'll figure it out."
"I'm not giving up because I didn't do anything wrong." Baldwin's Trump said following the song, adding, "But I can't speak for these people."
If the show started as a goodbye to Baldwin's Trump, it also offered a possible first look at President Dwayne Johnson. Johnson, who was welcomed into the show's coveted "Five-Timers club" during his opening monologue, recently told a GQ reporter that there was a "real possibility" he would run for president after a new Public Policy Poll indicated he would be far ahead of President Trump.
"I'm in," Johnson playfully announced. "Starting tonight, I am running for the president of the United States."
Johnson isn't wasting any time getting his team together. In fact, he already has a running mate - fellow Five-Timer Tom Hanks, who joined him on stage and agreed to campaign alongside him (Hanks also returned later in the show during the return of fan-favorite David S. Pumpkins).
"In the past, I never would have considered running for president. I didn't think I was qualified at all," Johnson said. "But now, I'm actually worried that I'm too qualified."
"The truth is America needs us," Hanks said. "No one can seem to agree on anything anymore except for two things..."
"Pizza and us," Johnson interjected.
"Together, we would get 100 percent of the vote," Hanks added. "I would get the senior vote because I fought in World War II in, like, 10 different movies."
"And I, of course, would get the minority vote," Johnson said. "Because everyone just assumes that I'm, well, whatever they are."
At the end of the monologue, the two stars raised their hands together in front of an enormous banner that read, "JOHNSON-HANKS 2020."