Nikki Haley Appears in ‘SNL’ Sketch, Takes Jabs at Trump’s ‘Mental Competency’ and Biden’s Age
On NBC's Saturday Night Live, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley made a brief appearance and taunted former president Donald Trump about his mental well-being and made fun of President Joe Biden over his advanced age.
The former governor of South Carolina has been campaigning in an attempt to reduce the polling gaps between herself and Trump ahead of her upcoming home state's Republican primary later in February. Haley participated in a comedic sketch that took place in a fictional CNN Town Hall and put forth questions from the audience directed at Trump, who was portrayed in the sketch by SNL cast member James Austin Johnson, NPR reported.
Haley, who joined unexpectedly during the sketch, played an audience member who was introduced as "someone who describes herself as a concerned South Carolina voter." Haley mocked Trump's refusal to join any debates, asking, "My question is, why won't you debate Nikki Haley?"
Then Johnson, playing Trump, responded, "Oh, my God, it's her! The woman who was in charge of security on Jan. 6... Nancy Pelosi," taking a jab at Trump's recent gaffe when he mixed up Pelosi and Haley.
Haley, who has positioned herself as a younger and more competent substitute for both Trump and Biden, going as far as running an ad slamming both of them titled Grumpy Old Men, mocked Trump's mental paucity, saying, "Are you doing OK, Donald? You might need a mental competency test." Johnson [Trump] bragged to Haley about having "aced" the competence exam, saying, "They told me I'm 100% mental, and I'm competent because I'm a man," adding that women "should never run our economy. Women are terrible with money... in fact, a woman I know recently asked me for $83 million," a jab at Trump's recent loss at a defamation trial.
A New York civil jury ruled in January that Trump had defamed writer E. Jean Carroll after she accused him of sexual assault, and the jury awarded Carroll $83 million in damages.
Later on, in a joke referencing the 1999 film The Sixth Sense, Johnson [Trump] declared, "I see dead people." Haley responded with yet another jab at Biden's and Trump's ages, "Yeah, that's what voters will say if they see you and Joe [Biden] on the ballot."
Guest host Ayo Edebiri also poked fun at Haley, making fun of the former governor of South Carolina for trying to avoid directly saying that slavery was the reason for the Civil War in the past. "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 'slavery?' the comedic actor Edebiri asked. Haley responded, "Yep, I probably should have said that the first time".
