In a Huffington Post op-ed in advance of Donald Trump’s Nov. 7 Saturday Night Live appearance, former SNL cast member Nora Dunn attacked Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ben Carson, calling Carson a “creepizoid” and referring to Trump supporters as “ungodly morons.”
“Donald Trump has stunt cast himself as a presidential candidate. Mocking a female candidate’s face is fine if you are sitting around with friends or performing a sophomoric sketch,” Dunn wrote. “But in doing it in a campaign speech Trump became so petty and stupid that he lowered the bar for creepizoids like Ben Carson.”
“Ben Carson, who admits to going after people with bats, bricks, boards, and a hammer when he was a kid, and who tried to stab a friend when he was fourteen. He has not been asked how he overcame such behavior yet, nor what keeps him in his seemingly trance-like state now,” she added.
Despite having met Trump several times over the years and describing his persona as “nice,” “gracious,” and “humble,” Dunn argues it doesn’t really matter who SNL recruits to host the show because it’s all about ratings, and Trump is “trending.”
She also admitted to being surprised to hear the New York billionaire was previously a “birther.”
“Donald Trump has insisted that the president is not an American, and appeared many times on Fox trumpeting his bogus cause with their top tier ghouls,” she said. “Now they hate him. Things change.”
Dunn, who feels Trump has no business running for president, scoffs at his ideas on immigration and asserts he’s powerless when it comes to enacting any of his proposals.
“Yes, he’s a bigot, of course. And he can’t do any of the things he says he can; build a wall between Texas and Mexico and charge it to Mexico or make deals with Putin,” she said.
“He can’t ‘do something’ about Muslims. And he can’t take back his ‘rapists’ remarks regarding Mexican immigrants, legal or not. He can’t disown the ungodly morons he’s brought out of the woodwork touting his message,” said Dunn.
“He can’t be president because the president represents the Free World, not casinos and skyscrapers. He’s never been an innovator when it comes to development anyway,” she said.
Dunn first joined the cast of SNL for the 1985-86 season, but left in 1990 amid controversy over her refusal to appear alongside host Andrew Dice Clay, who was known for being “notoriously misogynistic.”
The actress finds it “disappointing” that Trump will be hosting the show because the SNL stage “has seen so much real talent over the years.”
“His kind of comedy works best in a debate with the rest of the lightweights he’s running with,” Dunn said. “He’s a lout, a boor, and a jerk.”
“When it comes to Trump’s hosting skills this week, I wouldn’t expect much. His appearance doesn’t really matter, and that’s the biggest disappointment of all,” Dunn concluded.
Read the full essay here.