After ending her campaign for the Democratic nomination this week, many wondered what Elizabeth Warren’s next move would be. Last night, the Senator made a cameo appearance in SNL‘s cold open, where she appeared as herself on Fox News’s The Ingraham Angle. Kate McKinnon played Ingraham, who began her show by brushing off fears of the coronavirus and welcoming guests like Cecily Strong’s Judge Jeanine Pirro and Alex Moffat and Mikey Day’s Trump brothers.
Darryl Hammond swung by as the recently fired/retired Chris Matthews, who feels welcome at the harassment-friendly Fox News. But Warren was the star of the sketch, and acquitted herself amiably opposite McKinnon. Even Warren’s beloved golden retriever Bailey got a cameo, as the viral video of him chowing down on a burrito was played as Bloomberg versus Warren. After the clip, Warren assured everyone that between burrito and dog, she was the dog.
Warren joked about endorsing both Sanders and Biden, a la the New York Times. She thanked her supporters and made fun of herself, joking that she built a wide coalition of “teachers, preschool teachers, middle school teachers, and teachers’ pets.” She then followed up by saying, “not only did I not accept money from billionaires, I got to give one a swirly on live TV!”.
Warren assured viewers that she would be taking some time for self care, which included prank-calling big banks and drag racing Subarus. She then thanks all her supporters again before being joined by McKinnon, who quickly changed into matching Warren garb and thanked her for everything she’s done for the country. Warren assured McKinnon, “I’m not dead, I’m just in the Senate” before wrapping things up with the signature “live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”
Warren’s SNL debut was warmly received, as was her backstage dance video alongside McKinnon.
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) March 8, 2020
Unsurprisingly, there were people on Twitter who criticized Warren’s good time. Many said she was wasting time on SNL when she should be endorsing a fellow candidate and campaigning for the dems. No surprise, these folks were mostly Bernie supporters. It was a disappointing response that assumes Warren will just fall in line without complaint after enduring endless online abuse. But it’s all too typical of a country that penalizes women candidates for daring to exist. After all, she’s a woman, and women can’t win.
It’s a classic Twitter Catch-22, where the same people who trashed Warren for daring to run against Sanders are now demanding that she support him unconditionally. It’s mean-spirited and it’s no way to build a coalition. RIP my mentions, I guess.
Warren has worked tirelessly to promote her campaign, and she deserves to blow off some steam before endorsing anyone or getting back on the campaign trail. And anyone who thinks that there’s a world where Warren won’t do everything she can to support the Democratic nominee clearly hasn’t been paying attention to her campaign or her career at all.
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