‘Saturday Night Live’ targets Trump digital trading cards announcement  

“Saturday Night Live” poked fun at former President Trump’s release of a line of digital trading cards bearing his likeness, which he had teased last week as a “major announcement.”  

“Trump cards are each $99 dollars. Seems like a lot. Seems like a scam. And in many ways, it is. But we love the Trump cards. We just love them. You can also get them for free by going online and looking at them, maybe. I don’t know. Maybe taking a screenshot. But we really prefer it if you’d send the $99,” said James Austin Johnson, portraying the former president during the show’s opening sketch.  

“It sure sounds a lot like Pokémon, but trust me. It’s not Pokémon,” the comedian said.

The $99 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) depict Trump as, among other things, a cowboy and an astronaut.

The former president’s announcement drew some mockery from both sides of the aisle. 

President Biden, for example, tweeted that he had some “major announcements” of his own, listing a series of policy wins in recent weeks. And Stephen Bannon, a former Trump White House and campaign official, suggested during his radio show that whoever was involved with the effort should be fired.

Johnson also joked on “Saturday Night Live” that the NFTs would come with a chance to win a prize from a box marked “classified,” a jab at Trump’s ongoing legal troubles over his handling of presidential records and classified documents found at his Florida residence. 

The New York Times reported that proceeds from the cards, which could be purchased with cryptocurrency or a credit card, will benefit Trump directly. The NFTs sold out within 24 hours of Trump’s announcement. 

Many had expected Trump’s announcement to be connected to the former president’s 2024 presidential campaign, which has been largely inactive since it was launched last month.