It has been a big week for Texas Senator-elect James Talarico, and he finished it with a cameo on Saturday Night Live.
Talarico, who became the first Democrat to win a Texas Senate seat since 1988, crashed the show’s cold open on Saturday. In the sketch, Chuck Schumer (played by Sarah Sherman) and Hakeem Jeffries (Kenan Thompson) were celebrating the Democrats’ midterm victories.
“They said we’d never turn Texas blue, and we proved them wrong,” Sherman said as Schumer.
What happened in the sketch?
James Austin Johnson, playing President Donald Trump, interrupted the two and told the Democrats they were “welcome” for the win. Jeremy Culhane as JD Vance and Colin Jost as Pete Hegseth later joined Trump’s monologue.
Then Talarico walked in as himself. In the sketch, Trump referred to him as “Talafreako,” the nickname the real Trump has used for him. Talarico, to cheers from the audience, replied, “That’s Senator Talafreako.”
“Hi America, I’m James Talarico, the guy who’s been texting you every day asking for $5,” he said.
“In this economy, who can blame you,” Johnson’s Trump replied.
Talarico then said that if they worked together, they could “make life better for everyday Americans.” He said it was clear people wanted something different. “I’m talking, of course, about SNL’s cold opens. How many of these Trump freezers are they going to do?”
“Infinity!” Trump said.
The two put their arms around each other and said the show’s famous line: “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!”
Talarico shared the clip on X with the caption “That’s Senator Talafreako.”
And people were stoked about his appearance on the show. One person wrote, “Could barely get a word in the cheers were so loud 😂” another added, “Could barely get a word in the cheers were so loud 😂”
What has Trump said about Democrats?
“Talafreako” isn’t the only nickname Trump has used. He has also regularly called Democrats “Dumocrats.”
In a preview of an upcoming 60 Minutes interview, correspondent Ross Douthat asked Trump if he could work with Democrats without insulting them. “Yeah, I do,” Trump said. “Sure I could.” He added that he also calls many of them “Dumocrats” because he thinks their policies are bad.
When Douthat asked whether he could go six months without insulting them if that were what it took to get a deal done, Trump said he could do it “very easily.” The interview airs Sunday night and is his first sit-down interview since the Republican midterm losses.
Trump has said he believes the loss happened because he wasn’t on the ballot. “I feel that I wasn’t on the ballot, and there was nothing that could be done about that,” he told CBS News. “If I was, we would have won.”
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