Saturday Night Live mocked President Donald Trump’s cabinet meeting this week in which he allegedly told secretaries they were in charge of their departments — not Elon Musk.
The show’s March 8 episode hosted by Lady Gaga opened with Trump, played by James Austin Johnson, standing in the Oval Office alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio (Marcello Hernandez) as Trump attempts to broker a truce between the two men.
Rubio has reportedly been furious with the world’s wealthiest man for effectively dissolving the U.S. Agency for International Development through the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which has led government-wide purges of staff and threatened billions of dollars in federal funds.
Trump tries to broker a truce between Musk and Rubio pic.twitter.com/k7DnHjXIei
— Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) March 9, 2025
“Marco, thank you so much for coming. I know you're under a lot of stress, but I can't have you fighting with Elon,” Johnson’s Trump said.
“I need you to be my good little Marco,” he added, saying Marco’s name would have to change to “Mark Ruby” after the president made English the country’s official language.
“If you think I’m going to stand here and let you call me that, you’re right” Hernandez replied.
“But what I don't accept is Elon having total access to our government,” he said. “Planes are crashing, and he keeps trying to fire air traffic controllers.”
Johnson’s character moved to defend Musk.
“Elon knows a lot about air travel — he runs SpaceX, which is doing incredible things in terms of explosions and with regard to rocket debris,” the Trump character continued, referring to SpaceX’s failed launch Thursday, which resulted in a 400-foot spacecraft experiencing a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.”
The rocket exploded and debris could be seen flying over the Caribbean.
“Elon has been doing a good job with DOGE and he gave me some great stuff to talk about at State of the Union,” Johnson’s character said.
During Trump’s address to Congress this week, he said he would “blame” Rubio if “anything goes wrong” with U.S. foreign policy.
Johnson’s character called Rubio the “the G.O.A.T.”
“You’re the scapegoat, but it’s still a type of goat,” he said.
Later, he called on “Elon” — played by Mike Myers, who debuted his Musk impression in last week’s episode — to join them in the office.
Myers’s character wore a suit, as Musk did in real life during the encounter. Trump allies and right-wing media figures ridiculed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for not wearing a suit during his Oval Office meeting with Trump, though Musk has rarely been seen around Trump in formal business attire.
“Elon, I want to thank you for at least wearing a suit this time,” Johnson said. “Doesn't look great, right?”
Speaking to both men, Johnson’s character tried to resolve the conflict.
“I can't have you two at each other's throats. OK, after all, I have a perfect record. Everyone who's ever worked for me has left on good terms and then gone on to write a book called The Man Who Ruined Everything,” he said.
“Marco, get your budget under control,” Johnson said. “Elon, stay in your lane. You're not the boss.”
“But I paid you $300 million,” said Myers’s Musk, referencing the enormous sum Musk gave to Trump’s campaign and his MAGA allies.
“And that's why you're the boss,” Johnson concluded. “We’ll get out of your office.”
