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Things We Saw Today: The Internet’s Convinced There’s A “Fake Melania” Trump Standing in for the First Lady

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Kaila Hale-Stern
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Published: Oct 18, 2017 05:57 pm

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File this one under Wednesday weird. The #1 trending topic on Twitter is currently “Melania” after a video and comparison photo shots convinced wide swaths of the Internet that Trump had employed a Melania doppelganger. The conspiracy fast became a meme, and the rest is history.

First, Twitter lit up about this video. You have to admit that as we zoom in on Melania, her nose looks different, as does her fringe of hair—and her vigorous nodding to Trump’s words. It was made weirder by Trump saying “My wife Melania, who happens to be right here.” For those who really got into this thing whole-heartedly, I think it’s demonstrative of how out-there Trump behaves on an everyday basis that nothing he or his family does would surprise us anymore. We’d totally be down for believing he swapped in a spare Melania look-alike for a photo op.

While portions of the Internet took this very seriously and broke down comparisons to the microscopic level, others had more fun memeing and hamming it up.

Let’s all simmer down, folks. Camera angles can play tricks:

But personally, I’m going with this take:

Anyway, given the terrible things Donald Trump has done just today, like deny he was rude to the widow of a fallen soldier (hmm, who should we believe, Donald Trump or the soldier’s mother?), and never follow up on the promise of fundraising $25,000 for the family of another lost soldier, we shouldn’t be distracted by this silliness (or so focused on picking apart a woman’s appearance). Still, #FakeMelania was too much of a moment in cultural history not to record. Everyone really needs a break, don’t we?

  • Twitter says they’re going to institute new rules for handling abuse on their network. Oh, sorry, that banshee-like sound you just heard was my incredulous, hysterical laughter. (via Wired)
  • So who’s been watching Mindhunter??? OMG how I’ve missed Anna Torv. Also, this is cool:

  • The cast of Halloweentown, reunited. (via Buzzfeed)
  • Director Guillermo Del Toro doesn’t mince words about Hollywood’s toxic culture: “The people with money are assholes.” (via THR)
  • French women have their own “me too”-esque hashtag, only it’s #BalanceTonPorc (“expose your pig”) (via Time)
  • Is my wife Hayley Atwell’s presence in Georgia a possible hint that she could be filming there for the Avengers? Please? Peggy please? (via Comicbook.com)

You made it halfway through the week! Hooray! So what’d you see today?

(image: screengrab)

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Author
Image of Kaila Hale-Stern
Kaila Hale-Stern
Kaila Hale-Stern (she/her) is a content director, editor, and writer who has been working in digital media for more than fifteen years. She started at TMS in 2016. She loves to write about TV—especially science fiction, fantasy, and mystery shows—and movies, with an emphasis on Marvel. Talk to her about fandom, queer representation, and Captain Kirk. Kaila has written for io9, Gizmodo, New York Magazine, The Awl, Wired, Cosmopolitan, and once published a Harlequin novel you'll never find.
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