Melania Trump Liked Michelle Obama’s 2008 DNC Speech So Much She Stole Part of It
‘That Your Word Is Your Bond…’
Melania Trump’s speech to the Republican National Convention Monday night was praised by many as the highlight of the entire first day’s events, but that may be because a portion of it was lifted almost verbatim from a speech delivered by Michelle Obama at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
Shortly after Trump left the stage with her husband, the presumptive GOP nominee, journalist Jarrett Hill wrote on Twitter, “Melania stole a whole graph from Michelle’s speech.”
Here’s the portion in question of Melania Trump’s speech:
My parents impressed on me the values: that you work hard for what you want in life. That your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise. That you treat people with respect. They taught me to show the values and morals in my daily life. That is the lesson that I continue to pass along to our son.
And we need to pass those lessons on to the many generations to follow. Because we want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.
And here’s the section of Michelle Obama’s speech:
And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don’t know them, and even if you don’t agree with them.
And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values, and pass them on to the next generation. Because we want our children — and all children in this nation — to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.
The mainstream media and others quickly picked up on the theft.
Those sections of both speeches can be seen above in an MSNBC segment, or below in a composite. Upon the news breaking, Washington Post reporter Robert Costa told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on air that the Trump campaign was furious – not with the fact the speech was plagiarized, but with the media for reporting it.
So that’s pretty blatant, right? pic.twitter.com/EPnHME7afV
— Mike Hearn (@mikehearn) July 19, 2016
Vox, highlighting a tweet from Ben N. Petersen, reports that before delivering the speech, “Melania Trump told NBC’s Matt Lauer: ‘I wrote it…with a little help as possible.'”
VIDEO: Before plagiarized #RNCinCLE speech, Melania told Today show: “I wrote it with as little help as possible” https://t.co/4p5NZTj6k4
— Ben N. Petersen (@BenNPetersen) July 19, 2016
Some responses via Twitter:
Wife of guy who thinks Obama’s birth certificate was forged steals from speech by Obama’s wife.
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) July 19, 2016
Obama’s former chief strategist called Melania Trump’s speech last night “flat out plagiarism.” — @NorahODonnell pic.twitter.com/Jv1lxrSUv7
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) July 19, 2016
Do you hear that #CrookedMelania ??? Michele wants her speech back RIGHT NOW! https://t.co/bj51MSkZfF
— HillarysGotThis2016 (@VileEpiphany) July 19, 2016
#CrookedMelania and #CrookedDonald stole everything they have from better people.
— Presumptive Brauer (@allanbrauer) July 19, 2016
“a campaign that feeds off of white grievance and resentment trying to profit from the work of a black woman” https://t.co/nXCWATpuwA
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) July 19, 2016
#Melania plagiarized? https://t.co/FBx6E4tsh7
— Donna Brazile (@donnabrazile) July 19, 2016
Either Melania wrote the speech & plagiarized it
OR
she lied when she said that she wrote it.#FLOTUS#MichelleObama— Barbershop Politics (@knowpoliticsnow) July 19, 2016
Whether Melania knew the text was plagiarized or not, devastating to see a campaign premised on Obama “incompetence” stealing from Michelle.
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) July 19, 2016
Worst irony- part of Melania speech plagiarized from MichelleObama was about integrity-about your word being a bond https://t.co/2uCAca7UET
— HawaiiDelilah (@HawaiiDelilah) July 19, 2016
That time you plagiarized a speech about hard work and honesty https://t.co/8eKFibRcL4
— Paul Blumenthal (@PaulBlu) July 19, 2016
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Image: Screenshot via WWLP/YouTube
Hat tip: Vox

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