President Trump is hitting back at a fairly vicious Melania smear job by certain members of the media.
The internet went nuts with the conspiracy and it eventually made its way to television. Melania addresses the story and shut it down. That did not stop it, so president Trump responded today.
From The Hill: President Trump on Wednesday accused news outlets, without evidence, of doctoring photographs to fuel an unfounded conspiracy theory that first lady Melania Trump employs a body double to appear with the president at public events.
“The Fake News photoshopped pictures of Melania, then propelled conspiracy theories that it’s actually not her by my side in Alabama and other places. They are only getting more deranged with time!” he tweeted.
The conspiracy theory bubbled up again after people online suggested a body double stood in for the first lady last week when President Trump toured tornado damage in Alabama. ABC’s “The View” discussed the theory this week on air.
“You mean there are two women who have to pretend they are listening to him?” co-host Joy Behar joked.
Stephanie Grisham, a spokesman for Melania Trump, called the ABC talk show hosts “shameful” for bringing up the topic.
“@flotus & @potus traveled to Alabama to pay their respects & comfort victims of the tornado devastation. In typical fashion, @theview chooses to laugh in the face of tragedy. Shameful,” she tweeted on Monday.
The Fake News photoshopped pictures of Melania, then propelled conspiracy theories that it’s actually not her by my side in Alabama and other places. They are only getting more deranged with time!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2019
From Fox News:
A spokeswoman for Melania Trump ripped “The View” as “shameful” and said the ABC News program laughs in the face of tragedy after a segment exploring whether or not there is a body double for the first lady.
Co-host Joy Behar explained that “some people think the first lady is using an impostor” during public appearances, pointing to a viral conspiracy theory that is labeled with the hashtag #FakeMelania. The ABC News gabfest then displayed tweets in which people speculate that a stand-in actress replaces the president’s wife on occasion.
Behar announced that one particular image of the first lady didn’t look like the real thing.
“I wasn’t going to go along with this but that one, in that picture, doesn’t look like her,” Behar said. “It’s a different shaped face.”
Co-host Sunny Hostin then admitted she recently spent an hour trying to get to the bottom of the Internet rumors.
“Melania is a very tall, statuesque woman and the one that we saw, the first one that we showed, she looks kind of short,” Hostin said. “Look how short she looks.”
Behar said the conspiracy theory has caught on because there is “an element of truth” to the idea that the first lady doesn’t enjoy spending time with her husband. CNN’s Ana Navarro, who is a regular fill-in on “The View,” said the whole thing was “absurd” but she finds it comical and urged viewers to partake.
White House director of communications for the first lady, Stephanie Grisham, noticed the segment and took to Twitter to condemn the ABC News segment.
“[email protected] & @potus traveled to Alabama to pay their respects & comfort victims of the tornado devastation. In typical fashion, @theview chooses to laugh in the face of tragedy. Shameful,” Grisham wrote.
