What happened to Melania Trump?

Keen political observers are once again asking the question, after Melania's notorious body double returned, replacing her yet again. This time, following the first lady's COVID-19 diagnosis.

So, where is the real Melania? Is she just taking a break from public appearances, amidst all the election tension? Is she still ill? Is she even alive anymore?!

There are only a few people in this nation privy to those answers and none of them are talking with Rooster. What we can say for certain, however, is that it appears (to some people) that Melania Trump has gone off the public radar, yet again, replaced by her look-alike.

Whether that's for health reasons or by choice, is still unknown…

The first time this body double appeared was in October of 2017. Guardian columnist Mariana Hyde noticed striking differences in Melania’s appearance and mannerisms during a news conference and Tweeted, “Absolutely convinced Melania is being played by a Melania impersonator these days. Theory: she left him weeks ago.”

Not long after that, actress Andrea Wagner Barton chimed in, noticing subtle but very telling differences in Melania’s figure and features, during one of Trump’s speeches.

"Is it me or during his speech today a decoy 'stood in' for Melania??" Barton wrote in a post, accompanied by several pictures detailing the strange differences. 

Will the real Melania please stand up? Is it me or during his speech today a decoy “stood in” for Melania??…

Posted by Andrea Andi Wagner on Friday, October 13, 2017

However, shortly after that Melania (the real one) returned. The body double dissapeared and was never addressed by Trump or his administration. But, it was clear the first lady hadn’t left the president — so the theory was dismissed and all returned to normal.

For a while.

Then, in May of 2018, Melania underwent a minimally invasive surgery. And yet, she wasn’t seen in public for five full weeks afterwards. When pressed, Donald Trump pointed to a visibly empty window of the White House, saying Melania was watching them. Besides that bizarre statement, though, Trump refused to comment on Melania’s absence.

Until she finally "returned" after her surgery and he welcomed her back with a Tweet in which he suspisciously spelled her name "Melanie."

But had Melania actually returned from her recovery? Pictures taken just a few weeks later, in Brussels, during July 2018, clearly show the body double (Melanie?) again — this time exiting Air Force One beside Donald Trump. 

The stunt was so blatant and so obvious, even skeptics started speculating that maybe Melania had gotten a nose job or a breast implant surgery, accounting for the difference in appearance. But for those of us who’d been paying attention, it was clear that Donald Trump was using a "Fauxlania" to stand in for his wife.  

Most recently, Melania's body double was spotted again at one of Trump’s presidential campaign rally’s — after the president and first lady were both diagnosed with and treated for COVID-19. Unlike the real Melania, who always lovingly swats away her husband’s attempts to hold her hand or hug her, the woman who accompanied Donald Trump to this rally actually expressed affection. They held hands, they hugged, they even kissed…

Only a fool would be so dumb to believe those theatrics. The real Melania would never kiss her husband — let alone hold his hand.

“Political decoy’s” (as they’re known) are not a new thing. Politicians and public figures throughout history have used them to draw attention away from themselves and to take risks on their behalf. If Melania is actually using one, she wouldn’t be the first high profile public figure to have done so.

However, she might be the first, First Lady to have done so. (And who could really blame her, given who her husband is and the nature of his presidency?) 

Hopefully, the return of Melania’s body double has nothing to do with her COVID-19 diagnosis — hopefully she's healthy as a horse and this is just a voluntary step away from the lime-light, to take a breath of fresh air and enjoy a moment of privacy. Hopefully her political decoy isn’t here to stay.

But as of yet, no one really knows. So the questions remain: What happened to Melania Trump? And who is this imposter standing in her place?