In a twist that’s downright Trumpian, the most hated people in D.C. right now are Democrats. Their names are Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, two Senators ostensibly on the left, who refuse to back a a sweeping, game-changing, New Deal-ish bill that’s the bedrock of Joe Biden’s early presidency. It was only right that SNL would debut its 47th season by skewering this bizarre headache. And it was only right that the woman for the job of lampooning the very lampoonable Kyrsten Sinema was no less than Cecily Strong.
When last we saw SNL, Strong appeared to be bidding farewell. She wasn’t. Neither was Pete Davidson (who swung by late in the sketch to do his best Andrew Cuomo). Instead she was back in full force, playing the flamboyant and controversial Sinema as best she could.
New cast member James Austin Johnson also roared out of the gate, replacing Jim Carrey as an eager-to-please (and often failing to do so) Biden. The sketch finds him recuperating from a disastrous summer, which found him dragged over the messy exit from Afghanistan, only to find his dreams torpedoed by two (2) Democratic senators: not just Strong’s Sinema but also West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, played by Aidy Bryant.
“I didn’t come to congress to make friends. And so far: mission accomplished,” Strong’s Sinema cracks. She talks about her passions: “Yellow Starbursts, the film The Polar Express, and when someone eats fish on an airplane.” She then laid out how relatable she is.
“As a wine-drinking bisexual triathlete, I know what the average American wants,” she said. “They want to be put on hold when they dial 911. They want bridges that just stop — car falls down. They want water so thick you can eat it with a fork. And I will fight for that no matter what. Unless my foot hurts, then I’ll go back to Arizona.”
As in life, there is no resolution to this. There are mild digs at two “Squad” members: Edgo Nowdim’s Ilhan Omar and Melissa Villaseñor’s AOC. But the overall gist is that the Dems aren’t so much in disarray as being held hostage by two weirdos.
You can watch the sketch in the video above.