If anyone should be rooting for Donald Trump to win the election, it would be James Austin Johnson.
Johnson, after all, rose to prominence on the back of his unhinged impression of the former president and continues to play him on Saturday Night Live. But that’s not stopping him from encouraging his social media followers to vote Trump out.
In an Election Day Instagram post of his most recent cold open appearance as Trump, Johnson wrote, “Win or lose my man is cooked. The sauce is broken. I see it, you see it. If you truly love him let him rest.”
Although Johnson disagrees with Trump’s political positions, the Tennessee-born comic has said that he found the key to locking in his impression was to lean into what he liked about the former president.
“The thing I found I like about Donald Trump is he’s a funny guy, just look at his speeches,” he told The Chicago Sun-Times in 2023.
He took that assessment even further in an earlier Nashville Scene interview. “I think Donald Trump may be—intentionally and unintentionally at the same time, which is like a double whammy—the funniest person of all time,” he said at the time. “I don’t know— me and Donald Trump, it’s a weird relationship,” he added. I really hope he doesn’t find out what my politics are and sic his goons on my wife and my son.”
Johnson is the tenth performer to portray Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live. Phil Hartman was the first, going all the way back to the show’s 14th season in 1988.
