SNL Roasts Kavanaugh, Hegseth, and FBI’s Kash Patel as Trump’s Power Trio in Bar Sketch

Saturday Night Live’s latest cold open wastes no time tearing into the corrupt and complicit corners of the Trump-era power structure. Matt Damon reprised his role as Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, joining Pete Hegseth (Colin Jost) and FBI Director Kash Patel (Aziz Ansari) at a sketchy Washington, D.C. bar. The trio’s banter was a blunt satire of their real-world abuses and authoritarian antics.

Kavanaugh swaggered in holding his gavel and immediately ordered “six Bud Lights and three shots of Jamo,” joking about the Court’s infamous 6-3 conservative majority. Hegseth bragged about “starting a war” in Iran, downplaying the conflict as “totally chill,” while Kavanaugh quipped about ending abortion with “your body, my choice.” The sketch mocked the grotesque twisting of justice and policy these figures represent.

The bar banter also took aim at gerrymandering, with Kavanaugh confusing a voting district map for a field sobriety test, highlighting the absurdity of rigged elections. When Patel entered boasting about “FBI bourbon with my name on it,” the joke hit home on the politicization and self-dealing within federal agencies under Trump’s loyalists.

The punchline came when Kavanaugh revealed the trio’s secret: they’re letting Trump run for a third term by rewriting the Constitution with a childish “Sike!” scrawl. This biting joke underscored the ongoing threat to democratic norms from Trump and his enablers.

Ending with a sarcastic sing-along to “I Get Knocked Down,” the sketch left no doubt: these three are emblematic of the corruption, authoritarianism, and lawlessness plaguing the current administration. SNL’s cold open serves as a sharp reminder that the real “power trio” is a threat to democracy itself.