‘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.
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.'”
Some responses via Twitter:
Â
Image: Screenshot via WWLP/YouTube
Hat tip: Vox