Saturday Night Live has always made fun of presidents, from Chevy Chase playing Gerald Ford to Dana Carvey playing George H.W. Bush to Darrell Hammond playing Bill Clinton. Typically presidents expect they're going to get mocked, and although they might not like it, they try to show a good sense of humor about it.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, SNL cast frequent host Alec Baldwin to play Donald Trump, replacing Darrell Hammond. The switch made sense, since Darrell had played Trump since the early 2000's, and today's Trump-the-politician is much different than Trump-The-Apprentice-Host.

Also, Alec's impression is a breath of fresh air, since he has a different comedic take. Alec says he plays Trump as if he's always trying to find the right word, but never does, while constantly pouting, scrunching his face up "like you're trying to suck the chrome off the fender of a car." The impression is a huge hit, but in interviews, Alec has suggested he's tired of it. Yesterday he told The Hollywood Reporter, "Every time I do it now, it's like agony. Agony." And it appears the President read the interview.

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Previous presidents never complained about SNL sketches, but President Trump is absolutely furious about Alec's impression of him. He slammed the actor in a Tweet this morning - before 6AM, no less! (Somebody wakes up angry.) Well, actually, he wrote two tweets. Trump's first tweet had a few typos - calling Alec "Alex" and spelling dying "dieing" - so he deleted it and reposted it, writing:

"Alec Baldwin, whose dying mediocre career was saved by his terrible impersonation of me on SNL, now says playing me was agony. Alec, it was agony for those who were forced to watch. Bring back Darrell Hammond, funnier and a far greater talent!"

Well, Donald Trump is right about one thing: Darrell Hammond is a great talent. In fact, he never left the show. Darrell is still with SNL as the announcer - and in case they need someone to play Bill Clinton. It doesn't seem like Alec has a "dying mediocre career," or that people think his Trump impression is "agony." And it's unclear who exactly is being "forced to watch" it. But hey, the President is entitled to rage-tweet what he wants at six in the morning.

Here's the thing, though: Never pick a fight with a comedian on Twitter. Alec Baldwin fired back at the President with a string of Tweets that are hilarious:

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"Agony though it may be, I’d like to hang in there for the impeachment hearings, the resignation speech, the farewell helicopter ride to Mara-A-Lago. You know. The Good Stuff. That we’ve all been waiting for."

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"Looking forward to the Trump Presidential Library. A putting green. Recipes for chocolate cake. A live Twitter feed for visitors to post on. A little black book w the phone numbers of porn stars. You’re in and out in five minutes. Just like..."

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"And Mr President... please ask your wife to stop calling me for SNL tickets. (Hey, Melania...we’ve got Charles Barkley this Saturday!)"

I bet playing Donald Trump won't feel like "agony" any more, knowing how much the impression gets under the president's skin.

Following last weekend's Donald Trump impression on SNL, Alec Baldwin has taken to Instagram to defend mocking the president in the wake of his and the First Lady's COVID-19 diagnosis.

Some viewers have criticized SNL's decision to have Baldwin (who has been impersonating the incumbent president on the show since 2016) poke fun at Trump while he recovers from the virus.

Take a look at this parodied reenactment of the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden:

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The moment of the skit which was deemed to be particularly insensitive was when Baldwin, as Trump, foreshadowed his own diagnosis, saying: “The China Virus has been very mean to me by being a hoax, and that statement will not come back to haunt me later this week.”

Some of the critics voiced their disapproval on Twitter, with one person writing: "Yes the only difference between Democrat leaders and Baldwin.. Baldwin thinks he has nothing to loose by showing his hate when a person is sick showing true colors!! [sic]."

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Another asked: "Where’s the humanity?"

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In response to the critics, Baldwin explained in a 14-minute Instagram video:

“If there was ever the suggestion that Trump was truly, gravely ill, and people said, 'Trump is really in trouble,' then I would bet you everything I have that we wouldn't even get near that, in terms of content of the show. They would have done something else. I've seen that happen before.”

Check the video out here:

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Trump was believed not to be "gravely ill" as a video of him saying that he was “starting to feel good” and that he thinks he will “be back soon” was posted online before SNL aired.

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"We only have the words of the White House itself and the people who work there themselves to go on, and all of them have all been saying he isn’t in any danger,” added Baldwin. “We only have their word to go by. And if their word was that he was in serious trouble, then we probably wouldn't have done it.”

“We thought the debate was something topical, and we didn't have anything with him in a hospital bed, but we had the debate. You'd have to have a very good reason to avoid that, topicality-wise, and nobody thought that they were mocking somebody's illness by doing that.”

Despite Trump's claims that we will "be back soon", there have been some contradictory reports on the state of his health.

While his physician Sean Conley said on the weekend that he's “extremely happy” with Trump’s progress, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows explained: “The president’s vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care. We are still not on a clear path to a full recovery.”

It remains to be seen how next month's US presidential election will pan out.

Donald Trump Jr. has taken to Twitter to say that Alec Baldwin should play himself in a Saturday Night Live sketch about his wife Hilaria's heritage.

"Alec Baldwin should play Alec Baldwin when SNL parodies his wife pretending she’s Spanish for the last few decades as opposed to the basic white girl from Mass that she actually is," the president's son tweeted.

"It would be the first funny thing Saturday Night Live has produced in years."

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Baldwin, 62, has been playing President Trump on the show since before he took office, in an impression that Trump himself has described as "mean-spirited and not very funny".

But this week, Hilaria became the subject of controversy when social media users claimed she has been "pretending" to be of Spanish heritage and accusing her of faking a Spanish accent.

Hilaria Baldwin responds to allegations she's 'pretending' to be Spanish:

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Comedian Joe Piscopo agreed with the president's son, telling Fox News: "We get offended too easily. Why she did it? I don’t know. I think that’s subject for a sketch on 'SNL,' I'm just saying."

Hilaria Baldwin described the backlash as "surreal," telling The New York Times: "There is not something I'm doing wrong, and I think there is a difference between hiding and creating a boundary."

Hilaria told the news outlet that she was born as Hillary, but her family has been calling her Hilaria for the majority of her life.

Alec Baldwin shared a Mark Twain quote on his Instagram Tuesday to defend his wife. It read: "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."

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In an April podcast interview, Hilaria Baldwin said: "I moved here [to America] when I was 19 to go to NYU from… my family lives in Spain, they live in Mallorca."

The bilingual Hilaria's accent has noticeably fluctuated over the years, and in 2015, she famously appeared to forget the English word for "cucumber".

Not only this but the mother-of-five's CAA speaker page, Wikipedia, and IMDB page had all previously listed her country of birth as Spain.

Donald Trump Jr. took to social media to mock Alec Baldwin just one day after the actor accidentally fired the prop gun that killed a cinematographer.

On Thursday, October 21, Halyna Hutchins, a 42-year-old director of photography, succumbed to her injuries after the 63-year-old SNL star accidentally discharged a prop firearm on the set of Western movie Rust in New Mexico.

While Baldwin has received an outpouring of support from fans and celebrities alike amid the police investigation into the incident, the son of former President Donald Trump decided to ridicule the actor.

Taking to Instagram on Friday, the 43-year-old father-of-five promptly turned the tragic situation into a meme.

Indeed, the Republican activist shared with his 5.2 million followers a photo of Baldwin, who famously portrayed his father in Saturday Night Live sketches, with a scathing caption.

Donald Jr. wrote alongside the photo: "That look when an anti gun nut kills more people with a gun than your extensive firearm collection ever has..."

Per The Independent, Donald Jr. and his brother, Eric, are keen hunters for which they have been condemned by animal rights and conservation activists. Baldwin, on the other hand, is left-wing and a supporter of the Democratic party.

Donald Jr's mockery of Baldwin did not end with his post on Friday and the following day, he posted another meme - this time featuring both the actor and his wife Hilaria.

Referencing the controversy in which it was speculated that Hilaria faked having Spanish heritage, the meme was captioned: "How do we say, in English, we're f*****? - Hilaria Baldwin".

In the Instagram caption, the political commentator wrote: "I have a lot of questions. Why was a prop gun loaded and capable of firing? Why was an actor pointing a gun at a cinematographer and pulling the trigger?

"Why do those who hate guns so much have no problem profiting from them. Why are those who hate guns and profit from them not learning basic gun safety so as to be able to double check these things themselves? The list goes on and on do you have any other questions? If so list them below."

In his most recent post, Donald Jr. shared an image of Homer Simpson wearing a sandwich board with the words: "Let's watch Alec Baldwin blame the gun."

Featured image credit: PictureLux / The Hollywood Archive / Alamy

It's fair to say that Alec Baldwin and President Donald Trump aren't exactly on close terms. Baldwin's views mean that he's often at odds with the Republican leader, and choosing to portray him in a series of sketches on Saturday Night Live certainly didn't help matters.

To be fair to him, his impressions of Trump have been pretty spot-on; but now it seems that Baldwin wants to take his mimicry even further - by actually stepping up to the plate and running for president himself.

In a recent Twitter post, the former 30 Rock actor wrote: "If I ran for President, would you vote for me? I won’t ask you for any $. And I promise I will win. Beating Trump would be so easy. So easy. So easy."

Then, when a number of his followers retweeted Baldwin's comments, he chimed in with a follow-up tweet, writing: "These tweets save me millions in polling."

Here's Baldwin impersonating the President:

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Suffice to say, opinions on Baldwin's presidential bid were pretty divided, with some people supportive of the idea, while others thought it was simply ridiculous.

For example, one person with the handle @AdamRAlb wrote: "People who are good at things, like professional athletes, musicians, etc., make things look 'so easy.' In reality, they are just 'that good.' Seems similar to how you view politics. If you actually run, you might experience a different reality: Beating Trump isn't 'so easy.'"

Meanwhile, someone else going by the name @vhl123 wrote: "It would be epic if you ran in your complete SNL trump getup, and every campaign appearance duplicated whatever trump had just said ... that would be hilarious, in a childish, hysterical sort of way. But no, I probably would not vote for you."

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Trump has voiced his disdain over Baldwin lampooning him in the past, and in February 2019 he wrote on Twitter: "Nothing funny about tired Saturday Night Live on Fake News NBC! Question is, how do the Networks get away with these total Republican hit jobs without retribution? Likewise for many other shows? Very unfair and should be looked into. This is the real Collusion."

Baldwin meanwhile replied: "I wonder if a sitting President exhorting his followers that my role in a TV comedy qualifies me as an enemy of the people constitutes a threat to my safety and that of my family?"

In America, the worlds of showbiz and politics are never far apart, and it seems like Hollywood is exerting more and more of an influence on Capitol Hill.