--- description: The cast of SNL reimagined classic Christmas movie 'It’s a Wonderful Life' as 'It’s a Wonderful Trump.' title: 'Saturday Night Live' Reimagines 'It's a Wonderful Life' With Trump as President image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40501f55e0a144a6/6989419d929fada08ebf255e/alec-baldwin-donald-trump-cold-open.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Television](/tag/television/) ## Television Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 'Saturday Night Live' Reimagines 'It's a Wonderful Life' With Trump as President  by [Tara Law](/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 16, 2018 3:34 PM CUT  by [Tara Law](/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 16, 2018 3:34 PM CUT This holiday season, some may be wishing for a world without Donald Trump as President— even Trump himself. Or at least that’s the tale behind the _Saturday Night Live_ cold open last night. The cast of _SNL_ reimagined classic Christmas movie _It’s a Wonderful Life_ as _It’s a Wonderful Trump._ In the sketch, the characters that have made headlines for the last two years— including Melania Trump (Cecily Strong), Robert Mueller (Robert De Niro) and Brett Kavanaugh (Matt Damon)— are much happier. Donald Trump, played again by Alec Baldwin, stares around the room in awe. “Everyone looks so different. What are those things on their faces?” Trump says. “Those are called smiles,” says guardian angel Clarence, played by Keenan Thompson. One by one, Trump’s aides, appointees and family members approach Trump to tell him how great they’re doing. He notices that his counselor, Kellyanne Conway (Kate McKinnon), looks much better. “After we lost the campaign the devil gave me my soul back,” she explains. “Excuse me, I have to go find my husband— who I do speak to now.” Trump has soon had enough of the changes, and begs to be sent back to his own time. Like in the movie, a bell chimes, but in this version Conway says, “Every time a bell rings, someone you know quits or goes to jail.” Watch the full sketch below: ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5480964/its-a-wonderful-trump-saturday-night-live/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5480964/its-a-wonderful-trump-saturday-night-live/"},"headline":"'Saturday Night Live' Reimagines 'It's a Wonderful Life' With Trump as President","datePublished":"2018-12-16T15:34:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-24T06:56:36.711Z","description":"\"Every time a bell rings, someone you know quits or goes to jail,” says Kate McKinnon's Kellyanne Conway","url":"https://time.com/5480964/its-a-wonderful-trump-saturday-night-live/","keywords":["Television","TV","onetime","Holidays 2018"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40501f55e0a144a6/6989419d929fada08ebf255e/alec-baldwin-donald-trump-cold-open.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara Law","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-law/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40501f55e0a144a6/6989419d929fada08ebf255e/alec-baldwin-donald-trump-cold-open.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"alec-baldwin-donald-trump-cold-open","caption":"Saturday Night Live - Season 43","creditText":"NBC—NBCU Photo Bank—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/television/","name":"Television"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5480964/its-a-wonderful-trump-saturday-night-live/","name":"'Saturday Night Live' Reimagines 'It's a Wonderful Life' With Trump as President"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Video Is No Longer Available","description":"\"Every time a bell rings, someone you know quits or goes to jail,” says Kate McKinnon's Kellyanne Conway","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fKodeUO6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-06-23T15:00:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5480964/its-a-wonderful-trump-saturday-night-live/","duration":"PT10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5480964/its-a-wonderful-trump-saturday-night-live/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```