The First Lady was cheerfully tagging along with the President on his way to the debate this past week … or so it seems, because an awful lot of people don’t think it was actually her.

Here’s a photo that was taken Thursday ahead of the debate in Nashville between Donald Trump and

Joe Biden … in which DT is seen boarding a chopper with who appears to be his wife, Melania, already on board, smiling at the crowd that was bidding them a farewell.

We say appears because a crap ton of folks have studied this photo and others captured in the same few seconds … and they believe this lady’s a FAKE stand-in, not the real Melania at all. Prepare yourself — this is a deep dive, but stupidly important work nonetheless.

Some have gone to the extreme lengths of zooming in and comparing the lines around her mouth … not to mention playing dentist and seeing differences in the teeth. By most accounts, the mugs here just don’t match up — from chomper size to the curve of her smile … many Twitter truthers simply aren’t buying this is the real McCoy, but rather … a look-alike.

BTW, this isn’t the first time a “fake Melania” theory has surfaced. It’s cropped up at least twice before — most notably, in 2019 … when Trump and Melania visited tornado-stricken Alabama to survey the damage. She was rocking massive shades then too … but many said there’s no way that was FLOTUS — speculating she’s got a few different body doubles.

Trump, for his part, has denied this — calling it “fake news” and claiming photos of his wife that don’t look quite like her are photoshopped by haters. However, considering her well-documented hand-dodging with the Prez … people think it’s feasible this is a thing.