Alec Baldwin will return to ‘Saturday Night Live’ this weekend as Donald Trump

Last week, Donald Trump opted to sit out “Saturday Night Live” rather than appear following the Presidential Election as Donald Trump. Our sentiment about the decision was mainly that it may have been too soon for some people to revisit Trump so directly, especially given how emotional and raw many people were following the events of the prior days.

We should say this — we know not every person out there is upset about Trump’s win — obviously, he won the election for a reason. We just speak to what the sentiment of the “SNL” cast was coupled with what we would assume is the majority of the show’s viewership. Trump himself disparaged the show publicly a number of weeks ago.

For this coming weekend, the sentiment seems to be changing. Entertainment Weekly confirms that Baldwin will be back this weekend to play Trump again, and we have to wonder if this could be his send-off to the character.

While Baldwin’s impersonation is nothing short of fantastic, at the same exact time we’re very acutely aware that he is not an actual cast member on the show. He likely was hired in the hopes that he could come on, get the show great ratings (that did happen), and then depart following Hillary Clinton’s win in the election. We equate this very much to when Larry David was brought on by Bernie Sanders. Now that this result has transpired, “SNL” has to start thinking a little bit differently, and with that, we imagine that their next move could very well be either looking to the remainder of their current cast, or even looking at the outside for someone else with a good Trump impression. Maybe Baldwin’s willing to continue coming back, but that’s a gamble and it’s hard to say.

Unless the President-Elect does something ridiculous before inauguration day in January, our sentiment is that this could be the last time we see him until the new year. That gives the show a chance to do a search.

Kristen Wiig is returning to host this weekend’s episode; be sure to head over here to watch a new preview featuring her front and center. (Photo: NBC.)