‘SNL’ Cold Open: Trump Wheels Out Hannibal Lecter, His ‘Favorite’ VP Pick

The season 49 finale of Saturday Night Live opened with Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) making an assessment of his potential running mates, who ranged from the boot-licking to the face-eating.

Among those who showed face were South Carolina Senator Tim Scott (Devon Walker) and embattled South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (Heidi Gardner), who arrived holding a stuffed dog at gunpoint. Most notable, however, was Hannibal Lecter, played by a wide-eyed Michael Longfellow who was rolled into frame on a dolly while masked and straitjacketed like in the Oscar-winning film. (In a speech last week, Trump bizarrely praised the fictional serial killer and cannibal.)

On the SNL stage, Trump introduced “the late, great” character.

“I keep calling him ‘late’ and ‘great’ even though he’s not dead, he’s not great, and he’s not real,” Trump said. “But I think he would really scare everybody at the border, right?”

Moments later, Trump instructed Lecter’s handler to take him away. “He’s giving me Pence vibes. I don’t like that,” he said.

Trump’s search for a running mate, he also explained, wasn’t guided by much of a political calculus. Rather, it will depend on the outcome of a boxing exhibition.

“In many ways it will be determined by the winner of the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight,” he said of the July bout. “So we’ll be watching that very closely.”

And as for his ongoing criminal hush money trial, which is expected to resume Monday with the defense making its case, Trump discussed his plans.

“Trust me, I would love to testify. I’m not afraid to testify at all,” he insisted. “I’m just not going to–out of fear.”

“You see, they do a terrible thing when you testify, which is they write it down. And we don’t like that,” he continued.

Trump closed with a suggestion for anyone who’s had their fill of news about his many indictments.

“If you’re tired of hearing about all of my trials,” he said, “all you’ve got to do is vote for me, and it will all go away.”