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Here’s what you need to know about the Melania Trump body double conspiracy theory

Melania Rex
Melania Rex

Donald Trump is fond of a good conspiracy theory – remember all that stuff about Barack Obama’s birth certificate? – but he may be less happy about the latest one.

People on Twitter have become fixated on the idea that Melania Trump has been replaced by a crude body double (possibly cloned in a Russian lab).

The evidence? It’s down to something strange Trump said, plus video grabs showing Melania looking rather unlike herself – heavily made up, in large sunglasses, and looking like she’s got a false nose.

In the CNN video, recorded last week, President Trump said, loudly, ‘My wife, Melania, who happens to be right here.’

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Conspiracy theorists (naturally) believe that he’s protesting too much – and said this to cover up for the fact that the Melania on display was a fake.

For the record, there is no evidence whatsoever that Melania uses a body double (and it’s worth noting that there have been several previous versions of this conspiracy theory, including the idea that Hillary Clinton had also been replaced).

The video is from a CNN broadcast, and appears unclear, as if shot through a window, as the first lady and President Trump prepared to leave for Maryland – hence Melania’s strange appearance.

The idea that Melania is a ‘fake’ was first floated by Guardian writer Marina Hyde in a Tweet at the weekend.

But it turned into purest viral gold when Joe Vargas, a self-styled ‘cannapreneur’ going by the Twitter name BuyLegalMeds (charming) started pushing his own screenshots.

Vargas has since gained international fame, saying that Trump may have invented ‘Fake News’ but he invented ‘Fake Melania’.

Naturally, the Twitter humour machine has taken the idea and run with it, with many Twitter wags suggesting different back stories for the ‘fake’ Melania.