Literally hearing Saturday Night Live‘s Studio 8H audience groan when he would set foot on-set as 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump gave James Austin Johnson pause—and not because of his ego.
Rather, Johnson says the apparent apathy toward Donald Trump and his possible second term as president of the United States proved to be an omen of sorts.
“When I played Donald Trump during Joe Biden’s presidency, which was this beautiful dream we all had, I would feel our audience sigh at seeing Donald Trump walk out” for a Cold Open, Johnson shares in the new episode of Vulture’s Good One podcast (below). “I would feel the New Yorkers in the room ugh as they saw me walk out in makeup.”
The reason that such reactions weighed on Johnson is because it suggested that the voting public was underestimating the infinitely mockable Trump and the possibilities for his second stint in the White House.
“In my head I remember thinking, like, ‘Please take this man seriously. He is still extremely popular,'” Johnson recalls.
Johnson says that based on his experiences performing “Trump comedy” around the country as part of his stand-up act, “many people”—namely liberals—”were convinced he was defeated” for good after he lost a re-election bid to Joe Biden in 2020. “I remember people kind of feeling, like, ‘We defeated Voldemort. He’s gone.'”
That ultimately incorrect presumption of Trump’s fate “made me want to do it harder,” Johnson says, “because I was like, ‘You don’t understand. He is growing more powerful than you could possibly imagine.'”
Trump in the November 2024 election claimed 312 electoral votes to Democratic candidate Kamala Harris’ 226, while netting 49.8% of the popular vote (versus VP Harris’ 48.3%).
