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Bethan McKernan
Aug 02, 2016
Over the weekend the New York Post published nude pictures of Melania Trump from the mid 90s.
But since the paper has endorsed her husband Donald for president, the internet's finest conspiracy theorists are wondering if there's more to the story than first appears.
'What if Trump's campaign leaked the pictures on purpose to distract from his ongoing feud with the Khan family?' is just one hypothesis of the many floating around the internet.
Trump has repeatedly slammed the parents of Humayun Khan, who died in action in Iraq in 2004, who said at the Democratic National Convention last week that the Republican hopeful "doesn't understand sacrifice."
As John Oliver put it:
The main takeaway from these two weeks is that incredibly we may be on the brink of electing such a damaged, sociopathic narcissist that the simple presidential duty of comforting the families of fallen soldiers may actually be beyond his capabilities.
The spat has not reflected well on Trump. And he has already distanced himself from his wife's plagarised RNC speech - so maybe she's fair game again this time around.
It has been pointed out Trump probably would have gone for the jugular if the partner of his opponent had done the same thing, but his statement to the NYP was pretty unbothered:
Melania was one of the most successful models and she did many photo shoots, including for covers and major magazines. This was a picture taken for a European magazine prior to my knowing Melania. In Europe, pictures like this are very fashionable and common.
The right-wing paper, as a backer, could be trusted not to stray too far as to actually damage the Trump campaign's ultimate aims.
Adding fuel to the fire is conservative political commentator Rush Limbaugh, who said on his radio show that Trump's "girl on girl" photos could be a boon for her husband's campaign as they could "wrap up the LGBT vote" (really).
The most feasible explanation for the pics surfacing now, as Gawker notes, is that the photographer wants to raise his profile, and no tabloid in the history of ever has turned down naked pictures of famous people.
But hey, this is 2016. And many impossible things have already happened this year. 👀
More: What John Oliver had to say about Donald Trump and Khizr Khan
More: Trump supporters were asked when America was last 'great'. Their answers were terrifying
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