Estee Palti Estee Palti is standing in a room, wearing a black blazer jacket and looking into the camera. But in this moment, she’s not Estee Palti. She’s Vice President Kamala Harris, addressing the nation after finding out that President Biden has stepped down, and she is the new Democratic party nominee.
“I didn’t think that sticking all those needles in that Biden doll would help, but here I am,” Palti says, impersonating Harris’ signature laugh.
In another video, Palti pretends to call Senator J.D. Vance to talk to him about his Republican VP nomination – and he repeatedly hangs up on her.
“We keep getting disconnected, Senator Vance,” she says. “It’s like you fell out of a coconut tree.”
Again, there’s that high-pitched laugh, or the “Kamala cackle” as her detractors like to call it.
Palti, a New York-based nurse and Bukharan Jew, started doing her Kamala Harris impression back in 2020. She landed on Fox News, Sky News Australia, and “Gutfeld!”, and ended up signing a contract with Rebel News to create content for them.
Now that Harris is a presidential nominee, Palti has been busy creating videos several times a week and posting them to Instagram and YouTube, where she receives hundreds of thousands of views.
“Most of my comedy involves taking jabs at Kamala,” she said. “I picked up on her cadence and mannerisms and honed in on the laugh, and voila, I sounded like her.”
“I picked up on her cadence and mannerisms and honed in on the laugh, and voila, I sounded like her.”
While Palti has made it big in right-wing media, she’s been largely ignored by those on the left. They have their own Harris impressionist, Maya Rudolph, who has appeared as the VP multiple times on “SNL.”
“I think Maya Rudolph is incredibly talented,” Palti said. “I loved her in ‘Bridesmaids,’ but her impression is very vanilla. She doesn’t do the cadence or the mannerisms. She’s simply trying to portray Kamala as the cool, fun aunt in the White House, and that’s not realistic.”
In the past, Palti hoped to get on “SNL,” but now, she said it’s not her ultimate goal anymore.
“The current people in charge are stopping great comedy from happening,” she said. “I wouldn’t go on if the intention was to make Kamala look amazing. I laugh at many Trump impressions, because he says ridiculous things all the time too. When I look at the grand scheme of things, I hope ‘SNL’ and comedy in general turn around. I have hope.”
Palti, who shares her conservative views online, is also vocal about being a proud Jew and Zionist. Since October 7, she’s been posting pro-Israel content to her large following; she’s gotten her fair share of backlash, and her X account was recently hacked. She was also demonetized on Facebook for speaking out against the anti-Israel model Mia Khalifa.
“I guess I was ruffling feathers,” she said. “While I definitely played a part in losing my privileges, I also thought the community guidelines aren’t fair. I believe it’s unjust to punish people who are pro-Israel, especially since Zuckerberg is Jewish.”
With her Harris impression, Palti not only hopes to bring joy to people and put a humorous spin on the chaotic times we live in. She also tries to show how, in her opinion, Harris isn’t the strongest candidate for the Jewish community.
“She ignores antisemitism,” Palti said. “And she likes to play both sides when it comes to Israel.”
Though the impressionist has faced a slew of issues when speaking up online, she isn’t giving up. She’s urging her fellow Jews to continue being vocal as well.
“Never be ashamed of who you are,” she said. “Even if you get hacked or demonetized, these are all small things compared to your integrity. You can tell your kids you were on the right side of history.”
She continued, “Never give up, and don’t allow them to silence us.”
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.