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A photo of US First Lady Melania Trump looking relaxed and smiling on board Marine One has added fuel to a wild conspiracy theory. Adherents say President Donald Trump must be campaigning alongside his wife’s body double.

The theory that the White House uses an impersonator in place of the real Melania Trump has been around since at least 2017. A picture of the US presidential couple taken on Sunday poured some gasoline on the conspiratorial fire.

Yeah ok, but um, why the Melania double? Paging @SWWCreative … https://t.co/nqbA0LOWaHpic.twitter.com/2dadMjXxEV

The only thing I’ll miss from this administration is them swapping in new Melanias and just pretending we won’t notice like a 4-year-old with a guppy pic.twitter.com/8J0A4E9z5H

That definitely isn’t Melania and it’s not the first time either. pic.twitter.com/gKAcNMqlo9

With public opinion ‘settled’ that the real First Lady would never ever smile, the discussion focused on who could be in her place.

Some said the grin definitely belonged to beloved (and sadly dead) male star of the romcom Bewitched, Dick Sargent. Others suggested it must be the actor most famous for adopting fake personae for comical effect, Sacha Baron Cohen.

Is that Dick Sargent? pic.twitter.com/dMufMh34QQ

Plot twist: It’s actually Sacha Baron Cohen dressed as Melania. pic.twitter.com/v7AMTtggwq

And a few people seemed to take the ‘fake Melania’ thing all too seriously, seeing it as an opportunity for political commentary. Well, it is less than 10 days until the election, so no surprise there.

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