Impressionist Shawn Farash, who has gone viral in recent years for his impersonation of President Donald Trump, spoke with The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy this week detailing his strategy behind his successful Trump impression videos that have been viewed by millions.
Farash, who discovered that he did a good impersonation of Trump while working as a salesman selling cable at DirecTV in New York nearly ten years ago, said the key to his success is his ability to replicate Trump’s distinctive voice and cadence.
He explained that while it’s one thing to sound like the president, it’s about thinking like him that makes him stand out.
“When you’re impersonating someone, it’s one thing to sound like them, but then it’s another thing to actually sound like them. So you could have Donald Trump’s voice, but if he’s not speaking the pattern, using the words and the way he speaks, then you’re not actually impersonating Donald Trump,” he explained on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
Farash went on to detail how his success in impersonating Trump goes beyond voice mimicry, explaining how he has analyzed the president’s speech patterns, catchphrases, and mannerisms.
He said every detail matters – from Trump’s timing, to his sentence structure, to his recent habit of closing his Truth Social posts with “Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
“I used to close out [my videos] with ‘the best is yet to come’ because [Trump] used to say that a lot. And that was a nice way to shut the video down without it being an awkward ending. ‘Thank you for your attention to this matter,’ he literally just writes that on his Truth Social, so we’ve just been throwing that in at the end [of the videos]. It’s a perfect closing,” Farash said.
When it comes to the formula behind Farash’s short-form videos that routinely go viral, he said the goal is to grab the viewer’s attention in the first few seconds, deliver the funniest punchline around two-thirds of the way through, and wrap it up with something memorable.
“In the beginning, my strategy – and it’s like everybody who makes these short videos strategy – is to get people to watch till the end, but make them make that decision early in the video,” he explained.
Moving forward, Farash hinted that his popular “Public Service Announcement” videos might make a return, including absurdist warnings like “Don’t shower with your toaster.”
“There’s a couple of PSA ideas I’m chewing on that we may roll out soon,” he said.
Tune in now to The Michael Patrick Leahy Show – your AMERICA FIRST news talk!
– Watch LIVE here on X
– Watch LIVE on Roku
– Listen on Spotify
– Listen on WENO AM760 in Nashville
– Read more at @TheTNStarhttps://t.co/BqbJzyEgk6— MichaelPatrick Leahy (@michaelpleahy) October 15, 2025
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
