Cooper, in Trump’s own words

Sarah Cooper can thank Donald Trump for her sudden success, said Will Pavia in The Times (U.K.). Many actors and impressionists, including Alec Baldwin, have taken a crack at imitating the president’s unique speaking style, but Cooper—a largely unknown comedian and Google employee—invented a new way of mocking him: Lip-syncing to a recording of the president’s actual words. In her breakout video, Cooper earnestly mouthed Trump’s idea of using bleach and “powerful lights” to treat Covid-19. “I was just trying to be a person suggesting these crazy things as honestly as I could do,” she says. Cooper, 42, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants who came to the U.S. when she was 3, thinks that hearing Trump’s own words coming from a black woman is what makes her videos funny. “I think it works because I’m a low-power, lowstatus person who’s making fun of someone who is powerful. There’s just something so satisfying about someone he disdains one-upping him.” Tens of millions of people have watched her videos, but she hopes to move on to her own comedy after November. “I think whether he wins or loses, I’m done,” she says. “At some point, I would like to use my own voice.”