Donald Trump may be long gone from the Oval Office but his legacy of hilarious incompetence lives on. If you thought the end of 45’s one-term presidency meant he would no longer infiltrate the pop culture landscape, you were wrong. The latest place an impersonation of him popped up? SNL of course. But instead of Alec Baldwin, who played the Cheeto-colored politician to perfection for years, the new man behind the dumbest Commander in Chief the U.S. has ever seen is James Austin Johnson.
The SNL actor (who has also impersonated President Joe Biden for the show) completely stole the cold open recently with his interpretation of the former president.
His performance got us thinking about the other Donald Trump impersonations on TV over the years, so we went through the archives and ranked them all. Where does your favorite Trump impersonator fall? Scroll on to find out!
Cover Photo: NBC
TV Trump Impersonations
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9. Jon Stewart
In an impromptu visit to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart gets “Trumped up” with a wig and Cheeto dust. His accent is a little more New York than Trump’s has ever been, but he gets the erratic hand gestures and rambling rant down pat.
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8. Johnny Depp
You won’t recognize Depp in his Trump get-up. While he looks somewhat plasticized, he gets a pretty good voice impression on in this Funny Or Die faux movie trailer for The Art of the Deal: The Movie.
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7. Brendan Gleeson
Gleeson’s impersonation of Trump in The Comey Rule is more eerie than funny. The voice is on pitch, even if the facial features don’t fully add up.
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6. Jeff Bergman
Bergman has it easier than other Trump impersonators because he doesn’t have to embody the president in the animated series Our Cartoon President, but he does a decent job on the voice.
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5. Taran Killam
SNL actor Killam has the pouty expression and exaggerated eyebrows pegged, but his voice could use some work.
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4. Darrell Hammond
SNL actor Hammond can do Trump’s bad attitude, no problem; he also has the lip thing and husky body frame going for him. But the voice just can’t quite get there.
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3. Jimmy Fallon
Physically, Fallon falls short in his Trump impression. But he has perfected the scratchy, whispery voice.
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2. Alec Baldwin
Baldwin’s Trump is the Trump impression to beat. From the shiver-inducing voice to the puckered mouth, Baldwin has never been better.
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1. James Austin Johnson
Long before he blew SNL audiences away, James Austin Johnson went viral thanks to his voice impersonation of Trump. If you just listen to the audio without looking at Johnson’s face, you’ll almost forget it isn’t the Donald himself.
