Saturday Night Live Weekend Update took shots at former President Donald Trump’s stance on abortion, as well as his name erroneously appearing in an obituary for O.J. Simpson this week.
Trump said he believes limits on abortion should be left up to the states in a video posted on his social media platform on Monday, declining to endorse a national ban after months of mixed messages and speculation.
“This week, Donald Trump said that he supports abortion laws being decided by the states instead of the federal government,” Michael Che said during the Weekend Update segment of SNL.
“But why stop there? Why not go even smaller and leave it up to the counties? Or the city? Or even better, take the government out of it completely and leave the choice about what women can do with their bodies to the person who knows what they can do with them the best…their husbands?”
Che’s co-anchor Colin Jost then joked about Trump’s false claim that Democrats support abortion even after birth.
“In a video on Truth Social, Donald Trump falsely said that Democrats support abortion up to the ninth month and beyond, saying the baby is executed after birth,” Jost said.
“But he only thinks that happens because when Trump was a baby, a bunch of time travelers showed up trying to kill him.”
The presumptive 2024 Republican nominee said in the video released on Monday: “We want to make it easier for mothers and families to have babies, not harder. That includes supporting the availability of fertility treatments like IVF in every state in America…I strongly support the availability of IVF for couples who are trying to have a precious baby.”
During his address Trump falsely claimed Democrats support abortion after birth, commenting: “It must be remembered the Democrats are the radical ones on this position because they support abortion up to and even beyond the ninth month.
“The concept of having an abortion in the later months and even execution after birth and that’s exactly what it is. The baby is born, the baby is executed after birth.”
There is no evidence that any Democrat of note supports the execution of babies after they are born.
Newsweek has reached out to Trump representatives via email for comment.
NBC/Saturday Night Live
Che and Jost also joked about an error in an O.J. Simpson obituary after he died of cancer this week.
“O.J. Simpson died this week at the age of 76 after a battle with prostate cancer… that was planted on him by the LAPD,” Che joked. The former NFL star was famously acquitted of charges he killed his ex-wife and her friend in a trial that exposed divisions on race and policing in America.
Jost then joked about how the Los Angeles Times’ obituary for Simpson erroneously had “Trump” in place of “Simpson” in a sentence talking about his release from a Nevada prison in 2017. The error has since been corrected.
“Instead of writing O.J. walked out of the Lovelock Correctional Center, they wrote Trump walked out of the Lovelock Correctional Center a free man for the first time in nine years,” Jost said.
“And it’s not a great sign for Trump that even autocorrect thinks he belongs in jail.”
Trump will make history as the first former president to stand trial on criminal charges when his hush-money case begins with jury selection on Monday. It is one of four criminal cases against him that could reach a verdict before voters head to the polls in November.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.