Perhaps the Trump administration's most enduring legacy has been its consistent promotion of false, sometimes dangerous, and often inaccurate information and theories. One of the incorrect narratives that the White House has inexplicably (opens in new tab) and resolutely (opens in new tab) told is that First Lady Melania Trump is the second coming of the legendary Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, that she is the 60s Jackie O and that she embodies the same elegance and presidential importance.

Not an entirely out-of-place comparison. Melania expressed a desire to be compared to Jackie long before she entered the White House. In a 1999 interview with The Times, shortly after Melania's relationship with Donald Trump, the then-model revealed her First Lady aspirations: "I want to be very traditional. Like Betty Ford or Jackie Kennedy." She tried (and succeeded) several times to emulate them, at least in terms of fashion.

On the day of her husband's inauguration, the current first lady wore a powder blue cashmere Ralph Lauren dress and long gloves. Media and fashion critics compared it to the beige Cassini coat dress and long white gloves Jackie wore when John F. Kennedy was inaugurated in 1961. Last summer, Melania stepped off Air Force One on her husband's birthday and was spotted wearing a baby blue Hermes scarf and oversized sunglasses.

But what Melania, Donald Trump, and his administration fail to recognize is that Jackie was more than iconic style. Her clothes were an extension of her personality. She studied history, literature, art, and French at Vassar College and spent time studying abroad in Paris; from 1951 to 1953, Jackie worked as a camera girl for the Washington Times-Herald.

Consider the most defining outfit, and moment, of Jackie Kennedy's life. Not simply because they were fashionable, but because of the stories that surrounded them. Jackie refused to change out of that suit, splattered with her husband's blood, before facing the people and the press. Instead, she used the garment as a canvas to express the monstrosity of the moment. It was a flashy yet vulnerable symbol that allowed her to literally express her grief on her sleeve while embodying grace and strength in the face of unimaginable events. As she said at the time, "Let them see what they have done."

Melania, meanwhile, wore a Zara jacket that read, "I really don't care, do you." (open in new tab), and wore a Zara jacket that read, "I really don't care, do you?" as she visited migrant children separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border. Her choice of attire for the politically divisive occasion was the antithesis of Jackie's time as First Lady. Melania appeared to have no emotion at all when she could have subtly conveyed empathy through fashion. Her jacket proclaimed that message loudly.

Despite Melania's attempts to channel Jackie's looks, she still did not capture her character. Melania's message has long been subtly offensive, such as her birtherism against Obama and her silence while her husband bullied teenage climate activist Greta Sternberg. In contrast, when Jackie was on the ropes over civil rights issues during her tenure, she created a race-free kindergarten; during a visit to Mexico in 1962, Jackie gave a speech in Spanish titled "Welcome as a Good Neighbor."

And while White House renovations are common for first ladies, there is a significant difference in the approach adopted by Melania and Jackie: in a 1962 interview, Jackie said she often drew inspiration from her visits abroad and carefully selected her choices. When we got here," Jackie said, "it seemed such a shame that there was so little of the past in the house. 'The presidential palace in Colombia has all the history of the country in it. Every piece of furniture has a connection to the past. I thought the White House should be the same way."

The motives behind Melania's choice are unclear. Her crimson (open in new tab) monotone (open in new tab) Christmas decorations (open in new tab) have been mercilessly compared to horror movies. Melania has changed the color palette of Air Force One, adopting a deeper, more corporate shade of blue instead of the welcoming, bright turquoise blue previously chosen by Jackie Kennedy. More recently, Melania became the first first first lady to tinker with Jackie's meticulously planned rose garden (opens in new tab). The current first lady ordered Jackie's crabapple trees moved to another part of the property and replaced with limestone pavers. She also replaced the previously colorful flowering bushes with subdued white and pastel flowers, which greatly took away from the vibrancy of the outdoor area. Twitter exploded with frustration and bewilderment at the change, noting that that garden was symbolic of Jackie and her influence. (Reports surfaced that the garden was in need of repair due to the renovations just three weeks after it opened to the public.)

The garden is now in need of a new home.

At a time when the world needs Jackie, Melania continues to show that despite all her efforts, she will never be the First Lady she aspired to be. What Jackie excelled at most was not her outward style. It was her personality. No amount of dressing up will make Melania's legacy Jackie's legacy. If she wants to be more than a passing trend, she needs to work from within.