The Trumps have been the butt of jokes for years, but the First Lady doesn't appreciate the internet rumors that she has a body-double. Last Friday, Donald and Melania Trump visited Beauregard, Alabama to survey the wreckage caused by the recent tornado that took the lives of 23 people. Photos surfaced of the White House couple, and when they began to circulate, social media came up with the conspiracy theory—once again—that a fake Melania was being used for press tours.
The stand-in Melania theory was first introduced by Joe Vargas of the CBD retailer Buy Legal Meds after her tweeted side-by-side photos of the First Lady and claimed that they weren't the same person. "Let me save you some time from looking it up," he wrote. "It's not her." From that moment the rumors circulated, and even though the White House has denied that there is a fake Melania floating around, people can't seem to get enough of the theory.
On a recent episode of The View, the hosts joked about the rumored Alabama Trump body double. "Some people think the first lady is using an impostor to stand in for her," co-host Joy Behar said. "You mean there are two women who have to pretend they're listening to [President Trump]?...When there's a rumor like this, and memes all over the place, I think it catches on because there's an element of truth to the idea that she doesn't want to spend time with him."
The First Lady's team didn't appreciate Melania being the punch line of any such jokes and issued a statement to USA Today to express their displeasure. "I’ve always found it sad that a group of women spend so much time attacking another woman, whose only goal is to help children," Melania Trump's representative, Stephanie Grisham, wrote in an email. "Yesterday’s show went beyond the petty, mean-girl spirit that we’ve grown accustomed to."
Grisham also criticized the show for laughing "in the face of tragedy" while the Trumps "traveled to Alabama to pay their respects and comfort victims" of the recent devasting tornado. "People died, people lost family and people are hurting in Alabama," Grisham said. "I watched the President and First Lady hug, listen to and comfort people who had lost everything. The ladies of The View really should consider devoting that air time to helping people."