‘SNL’ Teases Elon Musk-Marco Rubio’s White House ‘Clash’
March 9, 2025
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Saturday Night Live (SNL) poked fun in a sketch on March 8 at the reported clash between tech mogul Elon Musk and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a White House cabinet meeting.
Newsweek reached out to Musk’s team at Tesla for comment via email outside of business hours.
Newsweek also reached out to the U.S. Department of State for comment via email outside of business hours.
File photo: SNL sign at the Premier Exhibitions Opening Night Party — SNL: The Exhibition on May 28, 2015 in New York, New York. File photo: SNL sign at the Premier Exhibitions Opening Night Party — SNL: The Exhibition on May 28, 2015 in New York, New York. Brian Ach/Associated Press
Why It Matters
Trump has had a historically contentious relationship with the sketch comedy show, and he previously said that SNL would be “put to rest” due to falling ratings.
SNL‘s highlighting of a reported feud between Musk and members of Trump’s cabinet could fracture relations within the administration, and others could feel empowered to question the tech mogul’s role in the White House.
What To Know
In the cold-open sketch for episode 14 of the 50th season, SNL set the scene in the Oval Office, as President Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) attempted to mediate the reported feud between Musk (Mike Myers) and Rubio (Marcello Hernández) after the cabinet meeting on March 6.
In the sketch, Rubio complained that Musk has “total access to our government,” noting Trump’s layoffs of air traffic controllers, and said that just because the billionaire is a “successful businessman doesn’t mean he should run the country.”
The president then came to Musk’s defense, praising his work regarding DOGE, and brought the Tesla CEO out to “work things out” with the Secretary of State.
Mediating the debate between the two, Trump said that the two need to “begin acting like mature adults,” and tried to rein Musk in. The sketch concluded with Trump saying, “Marco, get your budget under control. Elon, stay in your lane,” after which Musk said that he “is the boss” because he “paid Trump $300 million.”
SNL‘s cold-open swiftly follows The New York Times’ report that said Musk reportedly accused Rubio of not firing enough of his staff in the cabinet meeting on Thursday. Rubio responded by pointing to the more than 1,500 staffers who accepted buyouts.
Musk then reportedly said that the secretary of state was “good on TV,” suggesting that he is just a figure for the department, after which Trump came to Rubio’s defense and said that he was doing a “great job.”
Trump dismissed reports of their dispute in a post on Truth Social on March 8 and wrote: “ELON AND MARCO HAVE A GREAT RELATIONSHIP. ANY STATEMENT OTHER THAN THAT IS FAKE NEWS!!! DJT.”
What People Are Saying
In a post on Truth Social about the reported argument between Musk and Rubio, Trump wrote: “The Golden Age of America has just begun! Over the past six weeks, our Administration has delivered on promises like no Administration before it, always putting America First! DOGE has been an incredible success, and now that we have my Cabinet in place, I have instructed the Secretaries and Leadership to work with DOGE on Cost Cutting measures and Staffing. As the Secretaries learn about, and understand, the people working for the various Departments, they can be very precise as to who will remain, and who will go. We say the ‘scalpel’ rather than the ‘hatchet.’ The combination of them, Elon, DOGE, and other great people will be able to do things at a historic level.
“We just had a meeting with most of the Secretaries, Elon, and others, and it was a very positive one. It’s very important that we cut levels down to where they should be, but it’s also important to keep the best and most productive people. We’re going to have these meetings every two weeks until that aspect of this very necessary job is done. The relationships between everybody in that room are extraordinary. They all want to get to the exact same place, which is, simply, to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Although Musk has not responded to this sketch, he denounced SNL‘s previous sketch depicting him on March 2 and wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Humor fails when it lies.”
What Happens Next
Neither Musk nor Rubio has responded to SNL‘s depiction of their reported clash. It is unclear at this time how Musk’s working relationship with Trump’s cabinet will develop, and how his role in the White House may evolve.
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