Saturday Night Live hit comedy gold with their April 12, 2025, show, delivering a pitch-perfect parody called The White POTUS. They paired the absurdity of Donald Trump’s inner circle with the decadent dysfunction of HBO’s The White Lotus, and the resulting satiric behemoth is going to go down in SNL history as one of their greatest episodes in years. With biting performances and vicious social commentary, The White POTUS is a comedy masterclass that’s taking over social media. Let’s take a closer look at what’s got everyone talking and cementing SNL’s place in 2025’s cultural landscape.
A Trumpian twist on White Lotus‘s dysfunction.
It centers around James Austin Johnson, whose Donald Trump impersonation is legendary. He does Jason Isaacs’ crumbling financier from The White Lotus, just adds Trump’s own brand of bombast and fragility to it. It’s a setup in which Trump’s own trade war announcements have caused a worldwide economic meltdown, and Johnson’s Trump is dealing with the ramifications. Reaching for a “prescription bottle of chicken nuggets” and threatening to shoot Uncle Sam (Andrew Dismukes), he’s a man walking on the edge of madness. It’s an premise so implausibly absurd that it’s deeply unnerving, and Johnson milks every second of it.
The White Lotus format is made for Trump’s world. The HBO series’s focus on privilege, greed, and narcissistic denial echoes the sketch’s depiction of an elite disconnected from their destruction. By placing Trump inside this bubble of a resort, SNL ramps up the dreamlike levels of politics, along with providing laughs.
A star-studded cast steals the show
The cast of this sketch is a dream comedy cast, with each actor knocking their White Lotus-inspired equivalent out of the park. Chloe Fineman excels in her Melania Trump, capturing the offbeat energy of Parker Posey’s White Lotus character with wicked humor. “Can you envision just how awful it would be if America lost all our money and no one respected us any longer?” she declares, her irony-soaked delivery dripping from every syllable as Trump’s phone receives word of an incoming recession. Fineman’s Melania is both laugh-out-loud funny and keen, a standout in the sketch’s multi-level humor.
Donald Trump Jr. is played by Mikey Day with a slimy smile, and endearingly clueless Eric Trump by Alex Moffat. Scarlett Johansson makes a surprise cameo turn as Ivanka Trump, wrestling with a fleeting wish for a spiritually elevated life—until she’s instructed that she must renounce materialism and greed. “Am I prepared to lead an honest life?” she ponders, before knocking it aside with disdain. It’s a wry rebuff to privilege, conveyed with Johansson’s ubiquitous warmth.
Cameos that Turn Everything Around
There is no end to SNL‘s Trumps—it overloads the sketch with surprise celebrity appearances that amplify the wackiness. Beck Bennett returns barechested as Vladimir Putin, radiating danger and menace. Kenan Thompson pops up briefly playing Tiger Woods, an unexpected but welcome addition. Host Jon Hamm goes all-in on RFK Jr.’s quirkiness with glee, with musical guest Lizzo poaching a fleeting moment playing an American whose fortunes have dwindled from $20 million to $5 million. “Oh, my God,” jokes Lizzo, getting just the right balance of wacky humor and financial fretting. These surprise guests keep things askew.
Considered by many to be a contemporary classic,
It burst on social media, with X users lavishing praise on The White POTUS. One called it “the most brilliant, well-conducted satire SNL‘s done this century,” a view echoing around the site. Another pleaded for “at least 10 seasons of this,” and a third called it “the funniest thing Saturday Night Live‘s done in years.” It is a tribute to the sketch’s tightly-written, pitch-perfect casting, and unapologetic message, all of which together amount to alchemy from a comedic point of view.
The way people reacted to the sketch demonstrates that SNL‘s strength lies in capitalizing on the zeitgeist. People aren’t just laughing, but examining every line, applauding their performances, and begging for some more. It’s a credit to the longevity of the show in an over-saturated media landscape.
Beyond the Drawing: Trump as ‘Donald Jesus’
There was not a single Trump insult in White POTUS. During an Easter-themed cold opening, Trump, played by Johnson, cuts short a reenactment of Jesus (played by Mikey Day) driving moneylenders from the temple. “Remind you of anyone?” he smirks, with pride claiming to have one-upped Jesus by destroying an entire nation’s economy, possibly the world’s. He declares himself “Donald Jesus Trump” and blames his “beautiful tariffs” for the destruction, doubling down on messiah complex. It’s an ambitious setup that sets up the show’s endless satire.
Why ‘The White POTUS’ Resonates So Deeply
What works about The White POTUS is that it succeeds in balancing humor and criticism. It doesn’t just mock—it exposes, putting the White Lotus lens on to show the absurdity of power and privilege. The resort setting of the sketch highlights the isolation of decision-makers from repercussions, a theme that in 2025’s chaotic world feels timely. But it never feels preachy; the jokes land because they’re clever, not because they’re trying to teach.
For a veteran of SNL, it’s like going back to the show’s golden era, but with wiser, wittier satire. It’s a testament to SNL‘s relevance again in an era of streaming wars and noisy short-term attention spans. The White POTUS is a benchmark for a season, a piece that’ll end up on clip reels and after-midnight watercooler conversation.
The Verdict: Worth a Look
If you haven’t seen The White POTUS, do yourself a favor and get on it. It’s SNL at its very best: bold, intelligent, and laugh-out-loud funny. Whether you are here for the Trump roasting, the White Lotus nod, or sheer absurdity of it all, this sketch’s got it. With people clamoring for an encore, here’s hoping that writers are getting to work already on a sequel. Until that happens, The White POTUS glitters like a dazzling satire of a wacky era and a reason to keep SNL in your watchlist.
