SNL lampoons Trump’s trans mice claim: ‘Can you believe that? Probably not, because it’s not true’

Saturday Night Live (SNL) didn’t pull any punches with their cold open this past weekend (8 March), as they continued to poke fun at Elon Musk (played by Mike Myers) as well as mocking Trump’s recent claim that the Biden administration spent $8 million “making mice transgender.”

The episode – hosted by Lady Gaga – began with a portrayal of a Oval Office meeting between president Donald Trump, secretary of state Marco Rubio (Marcello Hernandez) and “first buddy” Elon Musk during which their inner thoughts were shared: and it was both hilarious and damning.

James Austin Johnson is currently playing Trump, and he put on a perfect performance as usual with a sketch that referenced the alleged tension between Rubio and Musk – last week it was reported that Rubio and other cabinet members are clashing with Musk due to his controversial actions as de-facto head of the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency,” though Trump has denied that there’s any internal tension.

In one particularly on-trend moment in the sketch, Rubio tells Trump: “While Elon’s been causing chaos, I’ve been working behind the scenes and I am very close to a deal with the Panamanian government to retake the Panama Canal.” To which Trump replies, “Eh, I don’t want it anymore. You know, (it) seems like a hassle. What I really love is Thailand. Okay? Because I’ve been watching White Lotus and it looks beautiful.”

Elsewhere in the sketch, Johnson’s Trump talks about his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday (4 March),, which was essentially a two-hour long anti-trans fever dream in which the president ranted about “woke ideology” at length.

During the speech, Trump claimed – falsely – that the Department of Government Efficiency had found $8 million (£6.2 million) set aside by Joe Biden’s administration to make mice transgender.

In the SNL sketch, Johnson said: “Elon’s been doing a good job with DOGE. And he gave me some great stuff to talk about at State of the Union. You know, they’re spending $8 million on making mice transgender. Can you believe that? Probably not, because it’s not true. But I said it, and it got a big laugh, and that is addictive.”

After the address to Congress, CNN fact-checkers determined that: “The morning after Trump’s speech, the White House provided a list of $8.3 million in federal grants to health studies that involve mice receiving treatments that can be used in gender-affirming health care. The White House list made clear what Trump, in the speech, did not: The studies were meant to figure out how these treatments might affect the health of humans who take them, not for the purpose of making mice transgender.“

Another highlight of the sketch included Mike Myers channelling his classic Austin Powers character, Dr. Evil, in his portrayal of Elon Musk.

The skit included Musk’s internal monologue. At one point he wonders, “was taking this job a bad idea?”

“A lot of people seem to really hate me. My Tesla stock is crashing and my personal net worth just dropped by $100 billion dollars,” he said, before raising his pinky to his lips, Dr. Evil style.

SNL celebrated its 50th anniversary this month with a star-studded special which included, amongst other things, Meryl Streep being horny for Pedro Pascal and an “in memoriam” section where Tom Hanks paid tribute to problematic SNL sketches from the past that had “aged horribly”, including one about Gay Hitler.