SNL mocks Donald Trump's Patriot Games, terms it distraction from Epstein files

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: ‘Saturday Night Live’ aired its latest episode on December 20, 2025, and featured yet another 'Cold Open' skit, focusing on President Donald Trump. During the skit, James Austin Johnson played Donald Trump as he gave a holiday-themed speech at the White House. 

In the skit, the actor portraying Trump mocked the recent renaming of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to the Trump-Kennedy Center. He joked that the president was putting his name on so many buildings because they had to 'take it off of so many files,' in reference to the Epstein files.  

SNL calls out Epstein files redactions

The five-minute skit touched on many topics, such as immigration, boat strikes, the recent Epstein files release, and more. The Trump administration received a lot of backlash when the DOJ started to release materials related to Jeffrey Epstein in phases, while missing the deadline set by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. 

Critics also slammed the DOJ and the Trump administration for the excessive, unexplained redactions in the released files. While speaking on the same in the 'Cold Open' skit, Johnson as Trump said that the admin had been 'very transparent because Jeffrey Epstein was a terrible man.' He joked that while he didn’t know him, he 'liked him a lot.'

While speaking about the redactions, the actor stated that Trump came out 'looking frankly very good.' As a television screen showed a heavily redacted page, Trump said that they had to redact 'a few sensitive things,' but that the public would get the idea.

"Trump. Didn’t. Do. Nothing. Bad. Trump. Does. Smash. But. Not. Like. Wrong. Kind. The End,” the screen read. 

SNL mocks the newly announced Patriot Games

Towards the end of the skit, Johnson as Trump said that the Trump administration was inventing its own 'Hunger Games,' as a way to distract the public from the Epstein files release. 

The actor further mocked the president, noting that there was no better way to distract people from the Jeffrey Epstein-related files than to 'invite a bunch of teenagers' to his house. 

Johnson was speaking of the Patriot Games, which would see high school athletes from each state compete with each other in a four-day competition as part of Trump’s Freedom 250 initiative.

Johnson, as Donald Trump, referred to the critiques of his plans, noting people wanted him to reconsider, considering how the book and movie, ‘Hunger Games’ ended. He said that he didn’t know the end because he didn’t like to read. 

“And frankly, might not be able to anymore,” he joked.