California Gov. Gavin Newsom couldn’t resist trolling first lady and former model Melania Trump after Vanity Fair‘s reported plans to put her on its cover.
A fake cover of Melania wearing a crown circulated online—headlined “The American Queen” and teasing “Fashion, power & the art of saying nothing”—as part of the social media storm surrounding the idea.
Newsom posted his own parody, crowning himself “The American King.” He promoted his “vocal revolution,” a nod to his scorched-earth social media war with the Trump administration. The spoof also teased, “Hair, Gel and the Art of Being So Handsome.”
“AN HONOR! THANK YOU!!!” his press office joked on X, using President Donald Trump’s all-caps style.
The gag came after Semafor reported that Vanity Fair’s new editor, Mark Guiducci, who Condé Nast kingmaker Anna Wintour handpicked, was weighing a Melania cover to broaden the magazine’s reach to conservatives.
The idea immediately rattled staff. “I will walk out the motherf---ing door, and half my staff will follow me,” a mid-level editor told the Daily Mail. “We are not going to normalize this despot and his wife.”
“If I have to work bagging groceries at Trader Joe’s, I’ll do it,” the editor added.
A fashion source told the Mail that Melania “laughed” at the request and rejected it outright. “Her priorities as first lady are far more important... These people don’t deserve her anyway.”
Fox News host Laura Ingraham briefly fell for the fake Melania image, writing, “Let the meltdown begin. Love it.” Hours later, she clarified: “Real or not real… hilarious to read the Left’s reaction.”
Other Fox News personalities were hot on the idea of Melania gracing the cover. On Tuesday, Fox & Friends hosts threw their support behind the magazine’s leadership, with host Ainsley Earhardt saying Guiducci is on the right track. “I would buy the magazine. I’d buy several of them if they would do this, just to prove a point.”
Meanwhile, fellow host Brian Kilmeade suggested that Guiducci should try to identify the Vanity Fair staffer who spoke to the Mail.
While she has never been on the cover of the U.S. version, Melania appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair Mexico in February 2017, shortly after Donald Trump’s first inauguration.
Her representatives have been contacted for comment, as has Vanity Fair publisher Condé Nast.
