Saturday Night Live’s Colin Jost reprised his role as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. His portrayal mocked the secretary for seeming out of his depth with the U.S. military’s invasion of Iran.
President Trump ordered an unauthorized strike on Iran in cooperation with Israeli forces early Saturday morning. A senior Israeli official soon confirmed that one of the strikes had killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Halfway through SNL‘s latest cold open, James Austin Johnson’s Trump introduced Hegseth as “the man I’m going to blame [the invasion of Iran] on when it doesn’t work.”
Jost’s Hegseth then sauntered onto stage, telling the crowd, “What’s up, dillweeds?”
Referencing the controversial real title of the Trump administration’s operation in Iran, Hegseth said, “As you probably heard, Operation Epic Fury is underway. And as you can tell from the veins in my neck, I’m pumped.”
Despite his aggressive demeanor and his constant shouting at the audience, Jost’s Hegseth quickly revealed his true feelings on the situation:
“I am scared, and I don’t know what I’m doing,” Hegseth said. “When [Trump] said we were going to blow up the leader of Iran, I thought he was kidding.”
The secretary soon regained his confidence, telling reporters, “Bottom line, all of you should be thanking us.”
Hegseth argued that by attacking Iran, the United States military had successfully eliminated “a horrendous, horrible leader who was oppressing his own people.”
Trump then added, “But don’t get any ideas!”
