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Fake Melania Trump Conspiracy

Fake Melania Trump Conspiracy

Part of a series on Melania Trump. [View Related Entries]

Updated Mar 11, 2019 at 04:32PM EDT by Adam.

Added Oct 19, 2017 at 10:27AM EDT by Adam.

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About

Fake Melania Trump Conspiracy refers to a theory that First Lady Melania Trump has been replaced by a body double, which makes public appearances next to President Donald Trump.

Origin

On October 13th, 2017, Donald Trump spoke to the media about the relief effort in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. NBC News tweeted a clip of the press conference, which featured Melania Trump standing next to the president wearing sunglasses (shown below).




In the comments on the post, Twitter user @rhyddler[1] said it appeared that Melania Trump did not look like herself and may have been a body double, gaining over 1,000 retweets and 5,000 likes (shown below).


Rhydian Williams Follow hyddler Replying to @NBCNews @rhyse Is it me or does Melania appear to be a man in drag here with a wig and large sunglasses on. Can only assume she left trump weeks ago and he hasn't yet found a way of saying he's done a great job on the divorce...I have the best divorce lawyers THE BEST 6:57 PM-14 Oct 2017

Spread

The conspiracy took off on October 18th, when Twitter user @JoeVargas isolated a part of the clip in which Trump says "My wife, Melania, who happens to be right here" and added the caption "This is not Melania. To think they would go this far & try & make us think its her on TV is mind blowing. Makes me wonder what else is a lie."[2] The tweet gained over 57,000 retweets and 92,000 likes (shown below).


BuyLegalMeds.com @JoeVargas Follow This is not Melania. To think they would go this far & try & make us think its her on TV is mind blowing. Makes me wonder what else is a lie ty 0:37


This launched a series of jokes in which people photoshopped other characters next to Donald Trump and imagining Trump trying to pass them off as Melania. Twitter user @pattymo[3] quoted @JoeVargas' original tweet and photoshopped a picture of Trump standing next to a Muppet, gaining over 3,900 retweets and 18,000 likes (shown below, left). User @sbstryker[4] noted that Trump pointing out Melania standing right next to him was the behavior of a man who may have been lying, gaining 4,300 retweets and 14,000 likes (shown below, right).


Patrick Monahan @pattymo Following This is not Melania. To think they would go this far & try & make us think its her on TV is mind blowing. Makes me wonder what else is a lie Sam Stryker Followv @sbstryker "MY WIFE MELANIA WHO HAPPENS TO BE RIGHT HERE" IS EXACTLY WHAT SOMEONE WHOSE WIFE MELANIA HAPPENS TO *NOT* BE RIGHT HERE WOULD SAY BuyLegalMeds.com @JoeVargas This is not Melania. To think they would go this far & try & make us think its her on TV is mind blowing. Makes me wonder what else is a lie P:0:45 SEE WHAT HAPPENS W 4:38 PM-18 Oct 2017

The story spread through many major media outlets, including Daily Dot,[5] Select All,[6] Washington Post,[7] and more. Snopes[11] debunked the conspiracy in 2018.

Alabama Visit

On March 9th, 2019, the Fake Melania conspiracy was revived following a visit by the President and First Lady to Alabama to observe damage from a tornado that hit the state. Twitter users believed that the Melania Trump pictured in photographs on the trip appeared significantly different from other images of the First Lady. User @mel_med_larson tweeted that the chin shape of "Fake Melania" looked different than the First Lady's, gaining over 1,000 retweets (shown below, left). User @TheMominatrixxx claimed "Fake Melania" was shorter than actual Melania, gaining over 700 retweets (shown below, right). The spread of the conspiracy caused "Fake Melania" to trend on Twitter that day.[10]


MellyMed @mel_med_larson Follow Ok People! Let's list all the ways #FakeMelania is different than #Real Melania. What the hell-it's the weekend, we all deserve some downtime. l'll go first: .Chin Shape 12:51 AM-9 Mar 2019 #25theThe45th! @TheMominatrixx Follow Replying to @Helenhs It's bizarre that they trot out #FakeMelania, thinking no one will notice. This one's shorter + looks nothing like her! Melania Trump is the same height as Michelle Obama: 5'11 Barack Obama is 6'1"; Trump "says* he's 6'3", but looks to be as tall as Obama Where's the REAL one? 8:03 AM - 9 Mar 2019

The revival of the conspiracy was covered by Daily Dot,[8] Esquire,[9] Cosmo,[10] and others.

Various Examples


sailor pellegrino @ashleyayer Follow "My wife Melania, who happens to be right here" 2:45 PM-18 Oct 2017 Dave Jones @WelshGasDoc RE Follow "I'm joined here by my wife Melania...who also happens to be here today" #ltsNotMelania 4:21 PM-18 Oct 2017 scarin' Chewning . @AaronChewning Follow Here in the briefing room, POTUS says the Melania body double claims are "completely fabricated" and "total fake news." Kent M. Wilhelm @kw_hc Follow Fake Melania @BoJackHorseman 's own Vincent Adultman. as played by Alex Trimboli @Nicole Cliffe Follow く) )- THAT'S く) )〉MELANIA 3:37 PM-18 Oct 2017 Mike J @MikeJisnumber1 Follow Melania isn't fake, she's a visitor ES ON HURRICANE RESPONSE

Search Interest

External References

[1] Twitter – @Rhyddler

[2] Twitter – @JoeVargas

[3] Twitter – @pattymo

[4] Twitter – @sbstryker

[5] Daily Dot – There’s a Melania Trump body double conspiracy brewing online

[6] Select All – If Nothing Else, Fake Melania Trump Is Good for Memes

[7] Washington Post – We’ve ID’d the mystery woman in those Melania-Trump-impostor rumors.

[8] Daily Dot – ‘Fake Melania’ conspiracy theory is back after Trumps visit Alabama

[9] Esquire – The 'Fake Melania' Conspiracy Theory is Back

[10] Cosmo – Welp, the #FakeMelania Conspiracy Theory Is Back and Spiraling Out of Control Again

[11] Snopes – Melania Trump Body Double

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Top Comments

Panuru
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Panuru

On the one hand this is stupid. On the other hand I agree that "My wife who happens to be standing right here" would ONLY be said in the context of it not being your wife. I'm conflicted.

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Dralemeres
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Dralemeres

in reply to documents1

A mix of factors that makes this seem plausible.

A. Melania showed a lot of reluctance to move into the white house. This lead to various jokes about how she didn't want to be near trump.
B. Very, very, VERY little trust in trump. He lies a lot, and has had a lot of weird stunts that seem cartoonish (such as having a fake time cover of him hanging up in his golf club). So this is a very low general trust, combined with a history of weird stunts and implausible lies. Trump is willing to say and do a lot of things to protect his ego.

So, combined, this results in answering two central questions: "why wouldn't that be the real Melania?" and "would they even do something like that?".

Combine that, with trump's words: "My wife who happens to be standing right here". That just sounds like something said in a comedy movie when the guy KNOWS it is a body double and he is awkwardly trying to cover it up.

Yes. This is silly. But the worst part is that this administration has made it PLAUSIBLE. It would not be hard to imagine that trump would go to stupid length to sooth his ego if Melania rejected going with him/left him.

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