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Melania Trump Plagiarizes Michelle Obama

No stolen convention, but stolen words!

One would think that a billionaire Republican running for President could afford to buy his wife a team of speech writers who could give her something original to say. Instead, Team Trump so lazily mishmashed meaningless platitudes for Melania Trump’s Republican National Convention script that they failed to catch themselves plagiarizing Michelle Obama’s 2008 Democratic National Convention speech:

Here is Trump, on Monday:

“From a young age, 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 and showed me values and morals in their daily lives. That is a lesson that I continue to pass along to our son,” Trump said.

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 is Obama, on August 25, 2008:

“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 to 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” [Gregory Krieg and Eugene Scott, “Campaign Denies Melania Trump’s Speech Plagiarizes Parts of Michelle Obama’s,” CNN.com, 2016.07.19].

The plagiarism here is obvious in word choice and structure. CNN puts the two passages side by side for our viewing:

To control the damage, the Trump campaign has shifted from Mrs. Trump’s earlier statements that she wrote her own speech “with as little help as possible” to saying she had been “working with a speechwriter for the last five to six weeks, honing” her teleprompter-dependent speech to ascribing the speech to a “team of writers took notes on her life’s inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking,” which statement The Verge says sounds like “a tacit admission that portions of the speech originated elsewhere.” Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has denied the plagiarism charged, but he also has denied having any role in preparing the speech.

We should not be surprised: Donald Trump doesn’t write his own material, either.

But why let that dampen the fun? Mrs. Trump’s husband is a creature of television, which survives on recycling of old formulas. Her plagiarism sets the stage for her husband to plagiarize Richard Nixon in his acceptance speech Thursday.

128 Comments

  1. Darin Larson 2016-07-19 07:35

    Paul Manafort, Trump campaign chairman, just said Trump “knew what she was doing and would never crib from another speech without acknowledging that she was quoting someone else.”

    He said that “[t]here basically is three places in the speech and there were fragments of words [that were the same].”

    He then he says there were probably 30 words in issue and Nora O’Donnell corrects him and says it was 58 words that were similar or the same.

    He was flummoxed to say the least.

  2. barry freed 2016-07-19 08:16

    Read the New Yorker article start to finish. Adding to the scary similarities to Hitler and Nazi Germany: Though he doesn’t read, he read the book of Hitler’s Speeches and wrote his own Mein Kampf, The Art of the Deal.

    One other quote made me think of DFP: “Truthful Hyperbole”. New title for the blog?

  3. Steve Sibson 2016-07-19 08:28

    Amazing how quickly the corporate establishment media reported on this. Who made the discovery? Who wrote the speech? Is Trump too much of a threat to defeat Hillary that the economic elite Establishment pulled a fast one?

  4. Nick Nemec 2016-07-19 08:28

    Mrs. Trump might be a very nice woman, but her husband, who wants to be leader of the free world, has proven that he is unable or unwilling to put together a team to prevent stupid things from happening.

  5. Dicta 2016-07-19 08:38

    Dude, SHE FREAKING RICKROLLED THE RNC. I am still cracking up about that.

  6. Sam@ 2016-07-19 08:38

    Nothing more than phases that every responsible parent has talked to their chrildren about. This is nothing more than a cheap shot by the liberals who have spent millions to defeat Trump and it is a tie with trump moving up. This is one more reason to vote for Trump.

  7. Craig 2016-07-19 08:51

    Sorry Sam, but this isn’t a “cheap shot” by anyone. It is simply a matter of fact that when Mrs. Trump needed inspiration, she resorted to someone she knew was a good speaker and simply plagiarized some of the key themes. Facts aren’t cheap shots – but stealing from others without giving them credit is pretty tacky albeit directly in line with Donald Trump’s own philosophy.

    You shouldn’t be upset that Mrs. Trump was caught… you should be upset because your guy is so ineffectual in leading a winning team that he wasn’t even able to properly construct a simple speech for his wife (or at the very least have his team preview it to prevent this type of thing).

    If this is what six weeks of preparation with his staff is capable of, imagine the ineptitude if they were given four years.

  8. Dicta 2016-07-19 08:55

    “Facts aren’t cheap shots”

    /discussion. Well put.

  9. Steve Sibson 2016-07-19 09:13

    ” It is simply a matter of fact that when Mrs. Trump needed inspiration, she resorted to someone she knew was a good speaker and simply plagiarized some of the key themes. Facts aren’t cheap shots”

    The problem is that we don’t know the facts yet. Everyone is reacting to what the corporate establishment media is saying. And they have a history of pushing false propaganda, remember the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?

  10. mike from iowa 2016-07-19 09:15

    Why would Drumpf even care what was said? He was doing a call in with Bill O’rally while the convention was in flames. Have to keep the focus where it belongs you know.

  11. Darin larson 2016-07-19 09:17

    Craig, you expressed my thoughts exactly with regard to the level of ineptness that would allow this speech by trumps wife. I’m afraid it confirms how stupid and arrogant the Trump machine is. With all of their money they couldn’t hire a speech writer that would catch this obvious plagiarism? The alternative is that they didn’t hire a speech writer because they are so arrogant to think they can do everything themselves.

    Imagine the Donald being told by the military that we can’t just drop nuclear bombs on civilians in the Middle East. Or when his diplomatic corps tells him that we cannot just tear up the north Atlantic Treaty organization. The Donald will just fire everyone until he gets a yes-man in every position around him.

  12. Dicta 2016-07-19 09:18

    “The problem is that we don’t know the facts yet.”

    Except we literally do know the facts. We know what they both said and when. Tell me, does the CORPORATE MEDIA control time? Or is your assertion that they’ve edited every existing video and transcript of both speeches?

  13. Don Coyote 2016-07-19 09:32

    When Melania Trump gives a speech, her words are platitudes which are defined as a “remark or statement, especially one with a moral content, that has been used too often to be interesting or thoughtful.” Note “used too often”. However when Michelle Obama speaks those same bromides it’s as the NYT put’s it, “historic”. Bwahahahaha! These are common phrases used in motivational speaking and Michelle Obama hardly has a right to exclusivity.

    Of course Melania is not running for President but Obama and Biden did and were elected. The irony is delicious that these dos hombres have been caught in flagrante delicto themselves with Obama caught lifting significant portions of a Governor Patrick Duvall speech during the 2008 campaign and then accused Hillary of stealing his catch-phrases and plagiarizing his speeches.

    And of course Biden’s plagiarizing is legendary. He was caught plagiarizing a paper while in law school and he lifted whole sections of a speech by MP Neil Kinnock and passages from RFK and Hubert Humphrey forcing him to withdraw from the 1988 presidential election.

  14. mike from iowa 2016-07-19 09:33

    Fresh off the internet-Drumpf campaign claims Michele Obama used a time machine to come to 2016 and plagiarize Melania Drumpf’s speech.

  15. mike from iowa 2016-07-19 09:35

    Biden wasn’t elected President.

  16. mike from iowa 2016-07-19 09:40

    This is nothing more than a cheap shot by the liberals who have spent millions to defeat Trump

    Uh….this wingnut cluster—- is doing a good job of destroying itself. They don’t need n
    help and wouldn’t accept help if Dems graciously offered.

  17. Douglas Wiken 2016-07-19 09:40

    At least when they steal, they steal the best. Actually, her speech is getting more publicity and free TV as a result.

  18. Bill Dithmer 2016-07-19 09:42

    ” The Blindman I aways though BLM stood for Bureau of Land Management, funny how that was the meaning for decade’s but now its suposed to mean something else. Just goes to show how small the minds are that think of these things.

    Cops lives matter. It doesnt matter if they are black brown yellow red purple oe white, cops lives matter. If you dont want to be shot, do what a cop tells you to do every time even if you think they are wrong. If you dont want to be shot dont turn your back and run. Its not a stay out of jail free card, just another reason to use deadly force to stop you. Yes it should be that simplesimple. If you want to fight with a cop your just the same as asking to get shot.!

    I aways though BLM stood for Bureau of Land Management, funny how that was the meaning for decade’s but now its suposed to mean something else. Just goes to show how small the minds are that think of these things.

    Cops lives matter. It doesnt matter if they are black brown yellow red purple oe white, cops lives matter. If you dont want to be shot, do what a cop tells you to do every time even if you think they are wrong. If you dont want to be shot dont turn your back and run. Its not a stay out of jail free card, just another reason to use deadly force to stop you. Yes it should be that simplesimple. If you want to fight with a cop your just the same as asking to get shot.!

    I aways though BLM stood for Bureau of Land Management, funny how that was the meaning for decade’s but now its suposed to mean something else. Just goes to show how small the minds are that think of these things.

    Cops lives matter. It doesnt matter if they are black brown yellow red purple oe white, cops lives matter. If you dont want to be shot, do what a cop tells you to do every time even if you think they are wrong. If you dont want to be shot dont turn your back and run. Its not a stay out of jail free card, just another reason to use deadly force to stop you. Yes it should be that simplesimple. If you want to fight with a cop your just the same as asking to get shot.!

    Yup used the same words. At the same time I find it more then just a little amusing people pick the strangest things to be pissed about. After all, this is a pretty standard spouse speach. Im sorry but this is much todo about nothing. No one was killed, and as far as I know, no laws were broken.

    This woman is smart, she speaks 5 language’s, but evidently needed somw help punching up her english. Mrs Obama should acknowledge that fact and thank her for the flattering compliment.

    Come on people she isnt running for office, she is just part of the show.

    The fact that I needed an inturpretor for her speach is completely irrelevant.But im wondering, do we need her or her man making decisions that the rest of us have to live with?

    I see where she hasnt been back home since she married the Trump, so much for her family values.

    The Blindman

  19. mike from iowa 2016-07-19 09:53

    The similarities in wording were first noticed by journalist and interior designer Jarrett Hill.

    Michele Obama has not commented or made any fuss about this. IMHO she is too classy to utter any words about this. Both Obamas exude class, unlike Drumpf’s and any number of wingnut’s crudeness and misogyny.

  20. Don Coyote 2016-07-19 09:57

    @mia: “Biden wasn’t elected President.” You are correct however Biden was elected VP (always the bridesmaid; never the bride) but my forum/blog grammar hasn’t had enough caffeine yet. ;-)

  21. David Newquist 2016-07-19 10:06

    This is not a case where, as the media soft-pedal it, there are “similarities” between the two speeches. There are long phrases where the diction is absolutely verbatim. It is statistically near-impossible to quote phrases of such length in Ms. Trump’s speech verbatim inadvertently. Such lengthy verbatim quotations have to be lifted directly from the source.

    Joe Biden, who acknowledged his cases of plagiarism, flunked a college course because of it and had to retake it and ended a campaign for president because of it. For him, plagiarism had consequences. The Trump campaign, however, has so demolished any pretense to maintaining the integrity of the word that Ms. Trump’s verbal dishonesty will be dismissed as an act of marital loyalty. I think of all the students who over the years I have witnessed failing papers and/or courses for lesser acts of plagiarism, and it seems almost unjust.

    The Trumps are the most prominent symptom of the deterioration of American culture into the United States of “Lord of the Flies.” And we watch police and black men execute each other, and wonder why?

  22. Steve Sibson 2016-07-19 10:13

    “We know what they both said and when. Tell me, does the CORPORATE MEDIA control time? Or is your assertion that they’ve edited every existing video and transcript of both speeches?”

    But we don’t know who wrote the speech. We don’t know who noticed the repetition and how it was covered by the media so quickly, not that they edited anything. The only important fact that seems to matters here is that Trump needs to be hated.

    Another fact that is not being discussed here is that Melania is a “legal immigrant”, which means here husband does not hate all immigrants because he is a racist. Or do I use the left’s typical lack of logic and assume that the reason you people are attacking Melania is because you are all racists?

  23. Steve Sibson 2016-07-19 10:18

    “And we watch police and black men execute each other, and wonder why?”

    The reason is the Marxists and the Islamic Fascists want a revolution to destroy America’s traditional culture (or what is referred to as “conservative”). And it appears Obama is promoting both movements. Some legacy, huh?

    So how does this all work out into the hands of the economic elite that are behind Hillary?

  24. Craig 2016-07-19 10:18

    Steve: “The problem is that we don’t know the facts yet.”

    Perhaps you don’t know the facts yet Steve, but I have watched both speeches (CNN has a great side by side comparison if you’re interested) and I’ve read the transcripts. It is clear plagiarism and not coincidence. David made the point above when he stated it is “statistically near-impossible to quote phrases of such length in Ms. Trump’s speech verbatim inadvertently”.

    In the scope of things this isn’t a huge issue. It wasn’t as if Trump himself plagiarized a speech from President Obama, but it does show us that even within his closest circle Trump is an ineffectual leader. Time after time we have seen his closest aides and family members go off message while he isn’t even paying attention. Then again, Trump himself seems to go off message on a daily basis, and the racist wing of the far-right doesn’t even seem to care. Trump said it himself…. he loves poorly educated people – probably because that is the biggest block of support he has.

  25. mike from iowa 2016-07-19 10:32

    Drumpf copied Obama word for word (except spouse’s name). Is that plagiarism?

  26. Grunt 2016-07-19 10:37

    Friends, citizens and countrymen I come to bury Obama not praise him. Some think Trump should revise his intro to his acceptance speech because some in audience might have passed sophomore English lit class in high school.

  27. Steve Sibson 2016-07-19 10:55

    “It is clear plagiarism and not coincidence.”

    I am not denying that fact. What we don’t know is who wrote the speech. And could this be a set up done on purpose to derail Trump? Just thought we could do some critical thinking here, instead of automatically going down the hate Trump road being paved by the Establishment that controls both parties.

  28. Rorschach 2016-07-19 11:07

    Whew! Just taking a break from the Dakotawarcollege non-stop coverage of the GOP Party convention. (Just kidding. No need to even go there to check for nonexistent coverage).

    I flunked a college course once. Social Dance. I had neither the heart nor the rhythm to passingly plagiarize those square dance moves. Simply quit going and took the F. I still believe I’m qualified to be first spouse – or maybe even VP.

    Mrs. Trump didn’t plagiarize. She just read the lines somebody else wrote for her. That person copied some words from the beautiful and articulate Mrs. Obama who probably wrote those words herself. The person who copied the words mixed it up a bit, and I’m not sure that qualifies as plagiarism. There was no direct quotation to attribute, and people can share the same ideas and express them in similar but non-identical fashion.

    More troubling to me are the falsehoods being peddled by speaker after speaker. It’s common in politics to exaggerate and use puffery, but the GOP Party seems to have evolved to the position that telling outright lies is fine as long as the lies might be helpful. Propaganda uber alles! The fact checkers will continue to work overtime this convention.

  29. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-07-19 11:18

    Governor Chris Christie also fails English class this morning:

    New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), a staunch Trump ally, defended the campaign Tuesday, saying that “93 percent of the speech is completely different than Michelle Obama’s speech.” He said that he believes the controversy will die down by Tuesday evening [Karen Tumulty, Robert Costa, and Jose A. DelReal, “Republican National Convention: Scrutiny of Melania Trump’s Speech Follows Plagiarism Allegations,” Washington Post, 2016.07.19].

    (1) “different from“, not “different than”.

    (2) Writing 93% original content does not justify plagiarizing 7% of one’s text, any more than answering 93% of the questions on your test yourself justify copying from your neighbor’s paper on the other 7% of the questions. When I find an instance of plagiarism like the one substantiated above, the student gets a zero for the paper.

    It’s plagiarism, Ror. One may argue that Mrs. Trump is not responsible for creating the plagiarism, since she apparently did not write the speech herself, but we assign the speaker responsibility for the speech as surely as we do with anyone else who spoke at convention who may or may not have been speaking from scripts prepared by others. Mrs. Trump’s speech, Mrs. Trump’s plagiarism.

  30. Don Coyote 2016-07-19 11:27

    And then there is this delicious moment from the very same speech in 2008 given before the Democrat Convention by no other than ….. wait for it ….. Michelle Obama herself.

    “Barack stood up that day, and spoke words that have stayed with me ever since. He talked about “The world as it is” and “The world as it should be.” ”

    Maybe she got her Baby Daddy mixed up with Saul Alinsky who wrote in “Rules for Radicals”, “The standards of judgment must be rooted in the whys and wherefores of life as it is lived, the world as it is, not our wished-for fantasy of the world as it should be.”

    Bit right in the arse by cosmic justice.

  31. Craig 2016-07-19 11:30

    Steve: “What we don’t know is who wrote the speech.”

    That is because the Trump staff can’t agree. Melania told Matt Lauer that she wrote it with as little help as possible, but the Trump camp has stated she had a team of writers. So good luck getting them to admit who was at fault here… but don’t expect Donald Trump to admit this happened right under his nose and thus is a reflection of poor leadership.

    @ Don – You seem to be expending a lot of energy trying to justify plagiarism by citing other examples of plagiarism. That isn’t going to work – time for them to accept responsibility for it instead of pretending it should be ok. The whole debacle just shows us how much of a mess the Trump campaign is – they can’t even agree on who wrote the speech (hint: I think her name might rhyme with Richelle Hobana).

  32. Jim 2016-07-19 11:38

    Sibs, as MFI listed above, the plagerism was noticed during the speech by one Jarrett Hill. So we do know that. We don’t know exactly who wrote it bc trump won’t tells us. They wanted to claim she wrote most of it herself, but then had to back off stating she was working with a team of speech writers for four or five weeks. One of those people will probably have to take the fall on this. She also said she has been a U.S. Citizen for about 10 years. I think her biggest problem not the plagerism, it is that her story can’t resonate with us average Americans: from age 16 she has jetted about the runways of Paris, Milan, New York…many doors opened on sheer physical beauty alone…married a billionaire and extended her life of privilege beyond the runway. How much of that connects with you? Also, since she was born a communist, aren’t you worried she is some kind of Manchurian candidate?

  33. Daniel Buresh 2016-07-19 11:43

    “Mrs. Trump might be a very nice woman, but her husband, who wants to be leader of the free world, has proven that he is unable or unwilling to put together a team to prevent stupid things from happening.”

    “If this is what six weeks of preparation with his staff is capable of, imagine the ineptitude if they were given four years.”

    “Imagine the Donald being told by the military that we can’t just drop nuclear bombs on civilians in the Middle East. Or when his diplomatic corps tells him that we cannot just tear up the north Atlantic Treaty organization. The Donald will just fire everyone until he gets a yes-man in every position around him.”

    What does that say about Hilary and her ability to handle confidential information? What do you think we should be more concerned about, a presidential candidate’s wife lifting a speech from someone or a presidential candidate that makes it apparent the rules don’t apply to her?

  34. Don Coyote 2016-07-19 11:49

    @Craig: Here’s yet another liberal icon who was a felony plagiarist …. Martin Luther King. He plagiarized his doctoral dissertation at Boston University as well as his magnum opus “I Have Dream” speech, copying phraseology from Archibald Carey, Jr.’s speech at the1952 Republican Convention in Chicago. MLK’s doctorate still stands and his “borrowing” from Carey’s speech is now characterized as “voice merging”. But let’s have a dogpile on Melania Trump while ignoring all the past indiscretions of Democrats and especially Mother Michelle.

  35. Daniel Buresh 2016-07-19 12:01

    You guys are worried about a non-presidential candidate who may have plagiarized a part of a speech yet won’t even acknowledge the wrongdoing of a SOS member mishandling classified information while being proven a liar by the FBI director since becoming a presidential candidate? You guys are priceless with your fake outrage and distractions. Please, tell me again why this makes the Trump candidacy so horrible. Maybe I should be more enraged at what this means for the next 4 years….I mean that should be so much worse than a flat out liar who thinks the rules don’t apply to her when it comes to state secrets. Hey Cory, how many articles have you done on Hilary’s lies as backed by FBI Director’s Comey’s testimony? What’s more important, a candidate’s wife’s plagiarism?…or a candidate continually lying? I just want to make sure I gauge these incidents on the proper scale of outrage.

  36. Darin Larson 2016-07-19 12:10

    As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Maybe mrs. Trump snuck this in here as a secret nod to the outstanding first lady that Michelle Obama has been.

  37. Darin Larson 2016-07-19 12:13

    You’re right Daniel Buresh, if Fox News was covering Michelle Obama plagiarizing mrs. Trump they wouldn’t hardly have anything to say about this incident.

  38. Troy Jones 2016-07-19 12:25

    Plagiarism is rightly criticized as the taking of another’s words and making them your own.

    But, we don’t know the facts (did Melania write this section or her speechwriter?) although I don’t know if the facts (between these two choices) make a significant difference politically.

    1) For those supporting Clinton, they consider this egregious plagiarism and a reflection on Trump, his wife, and his entire campaign team. Based on current polls, this is likely to be roughly 35-40% of the voting public.

    2) For those who support Trump, they will either pooh-pooh it because everyone does it/did it or assert the idea/ideal articulated can be held by broadly and the words were sufficiently changed to not be plagiarism or require attribution. Based on current polls, this is likely to be roughly 35-40% of the voting public.

    But for those 30% who either softly support one candidate or the other or are undecided (many of whom have strong unfavorable impressions of both candidates), they will look at anyone who asserts her speech (plagiarism or her strong performance) should be a criteria for them to choose their President as goofy. They didn’t care when Nancy Reagan was reported to see an astrologer or when Michelle Obama said the selection of her husband for President was the first time in her life she was proud of America.

  39. mike from iowa 2016-07-19 12:26

    Maybe because we have heard these fauxknee, right wing talking points for thirty years about all the crimes the Clintons have committed, but for some mysterious reason you can never get any proof.

    Bill and HRC have to be the most masterful criminals ever to escape justice for so long. Don’t you worry, though. After Drumpf appoints himself Potus, HRC is going to be extraordinarily rendered in Melania’s home country and never heard from again.

  40. mike from iowa 2016-07-19 12:40

    MLK was a rethuglican and seems to me he paid a terrible price for his beliefs.

  41. bearcreekbat 2016-07-19 12:46

    Daniel, I don’t think anyone writing here is outraged, nor is the country outraged because of the obvious plagiarism. Instead this is pure ironic comedy. Had Ms. Trump’s speech plagiarized anyone other than the hated Michelle Obama nobody would have cared. But for the Republican candidate’s wife to copy a speech given by a woman hated and demonized by so many Republicans – the wife of their anti-Christ for Pete’s sake – that really is quite hilarious.

  42. Rorschach 2016-07-19 12:57

    Trump is unabashedly modeling his campaign after that of Richard Nixon. I expect him to trundle Melania’s speechwriter out in front of the camera to proclaim, “I am not a crook.”

  43. Dicta 2016-07-19 13:15

    Savoring the deliciousness of Sibson’s conspiracy theory that a corporate plant is responsible for this misstep. So, so salty.

  44. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-07-19 13:24

    Troy, you’re piling a lot of assertions onto what I actually said. I just said the speech is plagiarism. Whoever is responsible for its authorship plagiarized and would receive a zero in my English class.

    I didn’t delve into the grand irony of Trump speechwriters recycling Obama rhetoric… but I should. Maybe Trump is a Clinton plant after all… ;-)

  45. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-07-19 13:28

    Coyote, read the link I provided at the top about platitudes. Yes, Trump used Obama’s words. Thus, if I call those specific words platitudes, they are platitudes regardless of who utters them. However, the article linked that critiques Trump’s speech explains that Trump’s speech was nothing but those platitudes, both the ones copied from Obama and the rest of the speech, failing to offer any of the vivid examples or personal authenticity that made Obama’s 2008 speech a far better speech.

  46. Steve Sibson 2016-07-19 13:31

    “Instead this is pure ironic comedy. Had Ms. Trump’s speech plagiarized anyone other than the hated Michelle Obama nobody would have cared.”

    More proof that behind the both sides are being run by the same economic elite. The Republican vs Democratic feud is all fake theater. The only ones who care are those that have picked a side and view the other side as being evil.

    BCB you got it right this time.

  47. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-07-19 13:32

    As Bear says, yes, it is hilarious that the best parenting advice Melania Trump can offer comes from Michelle Obama. Just like Republicans, trying to steal credit for Democrats’ good ideas.

  48. Darin Larson 2016-07-19 13:36

    Bearcreekbat nailed it. Hilarious!

    More jokes:

    from @joshgad
    “Thank God Melania didn’t go with her original opening tonight: “Hi, my name is Michelle Obama . .. ”

    Four score and seven years ago, I had a dream that all men were created equal. —Melania Trump

  49. Roger Cornelius 2016-07-19 13:50

    Coyote,
    Where in any laws is plagiarism a felony, please cite case law.

  50. Darin Larson 2016-07-19 13:50

    Right now the Trump children are working furiously to rewrite their speeches for tonight. . . .

  51. bearcreekbat 2016-07-19 13:54

    Darin, I didn’t realize that Sasha and Malia had made public speeches?

  52. Darin Larson 2016-07-19 13:58

    Trump slogans for the day:

    Make America Hate Again! (Not everyone, just the people that don’t look like us or immigrants except for my wife)

    Make America White Again! (This is not racist; you are racist if you think that)

    Make America Amazing Again! (Everything is going to be Amazing, believe me)

    Make America Fabulous Again! (Not that kind of fabulous, not that there’s anything wrong with that)

    Make America Win Again! (You are going to be so sick of winning all the time, believe me)

  53. Roger Cornelius 2016-07-19 13:59

    Hey Troy,
    We haven’t heard from you for awhile here on Dakota Free Press, nice to have you back.
    Just one quick question, why is your buddy Pat Powers at the Dump Site skipping out on the Republican National Convention? Is he embarrassed by Trump? If so, good for him.

  54. Roger Cornelius 2016-07-19 14:06

    I keep reading in these comments that we don’t know the truth about Mrs. Trump’s speech faux pas. But if you were to actually links provided by Cory’s original story the truth can easily be found about who wrote the speech, the real question is why is the Trump campaign in such denial about the facts.
    Denial fits the Trump campaign well and should be a part of their campaign slogan.
    If you read the Salon article on Trump/Nixon you will be able to ascertain that denial would be the theme of a Trump presidency.
    Trump is a dangerous man, not because of his wife’s plagiarism, but because he exhibits no self-control or personal responsibility in every aspect of his life.

  55. John Kennedy Claussen, Sr. 2016-07-19 14:39

    This plagiarism charge speaks to a greater issue than plagiarism itself. Between the controversy over this speech and the unprofessional and messy rolling out of the Pence VP announcement, it is fair to say that Trump has a “B team” running his show. Well, to the degree that he is not running it all himself, that is. Which begs the question either way,….”Do we really want a “B team” or a “B player” in the White House next January running and formulating our foreign and domestic policies?”

  56. Roger Elgersma 2016-07-19 14:52

    Sibson, you argue more effectively when you quote the Bible. When you try to engineer an excuse that the Republicans mistakes were engineered by the liberals you get yourself into quicksand. I do agree with you that now days both sides are bought out by big business. I do not know why you think that in that scenario that big business would want their people on either side to look bad by sabatoging them. But Republicans mistakes are their own and Democrats mistakes are their own.
    Melania looked to scared to say anything from the heart anyways. After posing naked for a national magazine, and then saying on an earlier show where Trump showed his wonderful family, we all know that whatever she says is a speech given to her so not to listen to it as if she is the one speaking anyways.

  57. Roger Elgersma 2016-07-19 14:56

    What disgusted me more than plagiarism, actually it was rather cute that she quoted a black lady, was when Giuliani bashed Clinton for four people dying in Benghazi for being so loyal to stay on the job when he had three hundred fire fighters die on the job on 9-11 for being so loyal as to stay on the job. In both cases they were told they could leave since it was getting dangerous and in both cases they stayed on the job by their own decision. It would be just as unpatriotic to blame Giuliani for his firemen dying as it is unpatriotic to blame Hillary for four diplomats dying for staying on the job in a dangerous situation.

  58. Steve Sibson 2016-07-19 15:41

    “Trump is a dangerous man, not because of his wife’s plagiarism, but because he exhibits no self-control or personal responsibility in every aspect of his life.”

    That is what makes him a liberal.

    “When you try to engineer an excuse that the Republicans mistakes were engineered by the liberals you get yourself into quicksand.”

    Republican leadership are liberals too. The same economic elite sets the rules for liberals in both parties. I think they told some Republican speech writer to set Trump up because the crony capitalists in the GOP want Hillary.

  59. mike from iowa 2016-07-19 15:44

    Cheryl says:
    July 19, 2016 at 12:25 pm
    Melania has responded: “These accusations of plagiarism are not only hurtful to me, but they are hurtful to my children Sasha and Malia.”

    BTW, I plagiarized that from someone’s tweet.

  60. Craig 2016-07-19 15:51

    Love how Don continues to use his energy to speak of examples of plagiarism elsewhere… as if that makes it ok.

    Sorry Don – no sale. Time for the Trump camp to just admit they have no original ideas. It is one thing to rely upon parallel thinking and had the mystery speech writer used the same general concepts but came up with some more unique phrasing it wouldn’t be an issue. Heck the speech itself isn’t even the story here… the fact that Trump can’t seem to keep his team in check is of greater concern. Tossing the wife under the bus hardly seems appropriate as I’m sure she just read what she was given.

    DB is desperately trying to turn this back into a conversation about Hillary Clinton’s email… which is an interesting story, but the two aren’t linked whatsoever. There are plenty of articles on Hillary Clinton’s email we can comment on if we so desire.

    This is one of those stories that really exemplifies how partisan some people can be and how unwilling they are to see flaws in their presumptive nominee. It’s rather sad really – why is it so hard for people to admit they made a mistake or even harder for those who support them to see it?

  61. Roger Cornelius 2016-07-19 15:52

    Sibson, pull yourself out of your own quicksand, Donald Trump is not a liberal in any shape or form. Yes, he claimed to be a liberal at one time, but now he is more republican than you are. Why can’t you handle that?

  62. Roger Cornelius 2016-07-19 16:12

    And the hits just keep on coming.
    The Huffington Post and other news outlets are reporting that the communist wife of Donald Trump lied about her education.
    In her campaign biography she claims to have graduated from the University of Slovenia with a degree in Design and Architecture. The fact of the matter is that she dropped out after her freshman year.
    Trump added the prestigious creds to make her appear not only beautiful, but smart and intelligent.
    Not a good day for Mrs. Trump.

  63. Roger Elgersma 2016-07-19 16:13

    What is liberal and what is conservative. My opinion is that to be liberal is to have less rules and conservative is to have more rules.
    Republicans are very liberal on big business and let them do most whatever they want to and Republicans are conservative on moral family issues.
    Democrats are liberal on moral family issues and actually are quite conservative on how business should be run and what is business responsibility to the world around them. Dems want business so be fair to labor and the environment and so could be considered conservative in those areas. Since dems are considered liberal and those are dem issues this is a little different definition than most have but I am just showing a consistent set of logic on this. At least consistent in my mind.
    So now we have a Republican like Trump who has switched on a lot of issues during his life, maybe to get Republican votes or to be accepted by his party, and so we are not sure if he is correct when he says and acts like no one will actually change him. It would be difficult to be a Republican now and have to deal with such an opposite of what Republicans want to be seen as, and still vote with a conscience. And we have Hillary who has always been for big business lowering wages with trade deals so foreign labor can undermine any chance of our workers getting a good wage when that is not what democrats have historically been. Since she has seen things from big business point of view for a long time is why she gets so much money from wall st.. I do not think they bought her, I think that is how she always thought on her own. So we not only have two people running for POTUS but we have two that have seriously high negative ratings and neither even following what their parties were originally for. This is not a recipe for greatness or even unity. The people need to do a serious good job of analyzing the congress choices so there is some check and balance in Washington no matter who wins the presidency. We will have to start spelling out in detail what we want since it seems that neither the pres nor the congress has much of anything figured out.

  64. Daniel Buresh 2016-07-19 16:16

    “DB is desperately trying to turn this back into a conversation about Hillary Clinton’s email… which is an interesting story, but the two aren’t linked whatsoever. There are plenty of articles on Hillary Clinton’s email we can comment on if we so desire.”

    How many articles on DFP discuss FBI Director Comey proving Hilary was lying all along?

    “This is one of those stories that really exemplifies how partisan some people can be and how unwilling they are to see flaws in their presumptive nominee. It’s rather sad really – why is it so hard for people to admit they made a mistake or even harder for those who support them to see it?”

    Ya think? We have people trying to garner support for a liar on national security practices based on an opponent’s wife’s actions which have nothing to do with gov’t. If their basis for ineptness is this event, then I have all the more reason to point out instances that were enormously worse by the person they support yet fail to acknowledge. Let’s see…..wife copying a part of a speech….or candidate lying to the American public in order to advance her career while circumventing FOIA communications and possibly endangering our national security. A sitting SOS completely fumbling their duties when it comes to national security. I’ve yet to see anything top that.

  65. Kathy 2016-07-19 16:16

    It doesn’t matter who wrote the speech. Plagiarism is still plagiarism. Someone lifted another person’s words and did not credit the source. If the situation were reversed, and it was Michelle Obama who cribbed Melania Trump’s speech, some of you would be out for blood and calling for Mrs. Obama’s head. Sorry, but the person who plagiarizes doesn’t get excused for it because they happen to fall on your side of the political spectrum.

  66. mike from iowa 2016-07-19 16:17

    Marva Collins > Quotes > Quotable Quote
    “Trust yourself. Think for yourself. Act for yourself. Speak for yourself. Be yourself. Imitation is suicide.

  67. Roger Elgersma 2016-07-19 16:19

    When Trump tried to introduce the one big name in the audience, Bob Dole, when he said that Dole was a VERERAN, it looked to me that Dole got a stressed look on his face like he did not like being used like that because of Trumps treatment of vets before. Did anyone else see that or was it just what I thought Dole was thinking.

  68. Steve Sibson 2016-07-19 16:22

    “My opinion is that to be liberal is to have less rules”

    More government means more rules not less. Both party establishments wants more government. Trump says he wants to make America great again, he doesn’t say he wants to reign in big government. He is a liberal.

  69. Roger Cornelius 2016-07-19 16:25

    Do you realize that if Trump is elected president we would have the first nude pin-up girl as a First Lady. Awesome!

    I can imagine that pornographic photo of Melania on the walls of American homes everywhere.

  70. Daniel Buresh 2016-07-19 16:33

    Roger, your sarcasm just shows how much you disrespect women and their choices to do as they please with their bodies.

  71. Craig 2016-07-19 16:34

    DB: “How many articles on DFP discuss FBI Director Comey proving Hilary was lying all along?”

    You mean to tell me you are only able to comment on articles on DFP? Might consider broadening your media sources just a tad.

    DB: “We have people trying to garner support for a liar on national security practices based on an opponent’s wife’s actions which have nothing to do with gov’t.”

    Who is doing that? I don’t see people using this story as an excuse to vote for Clinton… I see it as all the more reason to NOT vote for Donald Trump. There are bound to be a few other choices on the ballot… or you can always leave that particular box unchecked.

    Now back to the real world if you wish to defend Melania here by all means have at it, but a defense that relies upon Clinton being inept or dishonest surrounding her email server doesn’t pass the smell test. That’s like suggesting we should ignore the Zika virus because it isn’t as bad as HIV.

  72. Darin Larson 2016-07-19 16:45

    Bearcreekbat, I heard the Trump children were trying to obtain Sasha and Malia’s grade school essays. They were looking for something written in crayon.

  73. mike from iowa 2016-07-19 16:52

    How many posts did DFP do concerning Gen David Petraeus who actually, knowingly handed classified material to his biographer and kept classified documents unsecure in his house?

  74. Daniel Buresh 2016-07-19 16:53

    “You mean to tell me you are only able to comment on articles on DFP? Might consider broadening your media sources just a tad.”

    I’m talking about here. It’d be nice to see such criticism but we know that won’t happen. My bad for expecting that.

    “Who is doing that? I don’t see people using this story as an excuse to vote for Clinton… I see it as all the more reason to NOT vote for Donald Trump. There are bound to be a few other choices on the ballot… or you can always leave that particular box unchecked.”

    “Do we really want a “B team” or a “B player” in the White House next January running and formulating our foreign and domestic policies?”

    You’ve been around here long enough to know that trying to take votes away from Trump is no different than trying to get votes over to Hilary. You are playing word games now.

    “Now back to the real world if you wish to defend Melania here by all means have at it, but a defense that relies upon Clinton being inept or dishonest surrounding her email server doesn’t pass the smell test. That’s like suggesting we should ignore the Zika virus because it isn’t as bad as HIV.”

    This is how twisted your understanding is. I have yet to defend Melania. I am defending the anti-support message against Trump based on something so trivial, while they won’t even acknowledge something so much worse. Dogging trump for something like this while there is so much more legitimate criticisms of both candidates only makes you look like the trivial highschooler. You sound like an actor on the real housewives of Washington DC.

  75. Craig 2016-07-19 17:12

    Sorry DB – but taking away a vote for Trump is not a vote for Hillary… it just might mean one less vote for Trump. Anyone who is close enough to even considering a vote for Trump isn’t likely to support Hillary regardless.

    Doesn’t matter either way – your attempts to shift the conversation towards Clinton’s email issues is comical at best.

    “I am defending the anti-support message against Trump based on something so trivial, while they won’t even acknowledge something so much worse.”

    Sorry it doesn’t work like that. It is not a zero sum game and this incident is just more evidence that Trump isn’t fit to lead. Is it the most important issue? No. Is it even in the top 50 reasons why Trump is a poor leader? No. Is it in any way on the same level as classified email? Not at all.

    We have spent months upon months discussion Clinton’s email so your attempt to shift the conversation back there is just silly. This is about a rather comical incident of plagiarism and nothing more. It happened last night thus it is relevant today – but you’re so inflamed at the idea that more cracks are showing in the Trump campaign than you feel the need to change the subject to something – anything – that appears worse.

    Keep trying DB – keep trying. Maybe you can toss in a few Benghazi references just for effect while you’re at it – but try to crank up the faux outrage meter a bit so people might think you’re actually serious. Consider using words like ‘disgraceful’, ‘offensive’, ‘infuriating’, or maybe even go so far as to use ‘treasonous’ or ‘betrayal’. Then insert a reference to Vince Foster or something but be subtle… don’t go full “Killary” or “Crooked Hillary” right off the bat or you might scare your brethren away before you’re able to snag them.

  76. Roger Cornelius 2016-07-19 17:19

    Daniel,
    My comments about the pornographic photos of Trump’s wife are no reflection on women what so ever, what they are, is a reflection of Trump’s loose moral and family values.

  77. Roger Cornelius 2016-07-19 17:22

    What would Dakota Free Press be without the inanity and off-the-wall conspiracies of Steve Sibson?
    How’s that blog coming, Sibson?

  78. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-07-19 17:23

    Kathy’s point matters greatly. Plagiarism is plagiarism. No excuses or appeals to other issues change the fact that Melania Trump and/or her speechwriter(s) committed plagiarism. By trying to excuse this sloppy theft, the Trump campaign is now undermining the work teachers do to tell their students that they cannot do in their papers what Melania Trump did in front of the nation last night.

    Sam Smith may not have meant to copy Tom Petty, and Tom Petty didn’t invent music, but Sam Smith still has to credit Tom Petty and pay him royalties.

  79. Roger Cornelius 2016-07-19 17:28

    Daniel,
    If you want a post about Hillary’s either emails you can either go read the lifeless Dakota War College or write your own blog.
    Cory is under no obligation to write what you want. Besides, the Hillary emails have been pretty well discussed on this blog.

  80. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-07-19 17:33

    Sibson, for the record, this plagiarism matters no matter whom Team Trump plagiarized. I give students zeroes for plagiarism regardless of the source. The fact that Team Trump plagiarized Melania Obama is gravy.

    And, contrary to the assertions of Team Trump, the fact that words reflect someone’s feelings do not excuse stealing words from other authors.

  81. bearcreekbat 2016-07-19 17:36

    Daniel, although I do not want to get off topic I have to correct one of your statements. I watched Congress interrogate Comey in an effort to get him to say Hillary intentionally lied. He simply would not go there and made it very clear that the reason the case should go no further was that every single FBI investigator involved in the case concluded that there was insufficient evidence Hillary ever lied or intentionally did anything improper with her emails.

    Comey emphasized that a key difference in the Petraus case was that Petraeus intentionally lied about his conduct and Hillary did not. So oppose Hillary all you want but please don’t make false or incorrect statements about Comey’s sworn testimony about Hillary and her emails.

  82. Darin Larson 2016-07-19 17:38

    Cory, that is what gets me. If the Trump campaign would just say that Melania’s use of Michelle Obama’s words were inadvertent and that those themes ring true for Melania as well as Michelle, they could get past this in short order.

    Instead, it is deny, deny, deny by Paul Manafort and then attack Hillary Clinton as if Hillary had something to do with this. It’s comical, but predictable from a campaign and a person like Trump that never, ever, ever admits they got something wrong.

  83. Darin Larson 2016-07-19 17:40

    Bearcreekbat, thank you for making that point about Comey’s investigation. I was going to get around to it eventually.

  84. Darin Larson 2016-07-19 17:58

    Trump’s old campaign manager, Lewendowski, who was fired by Trump a while back, says that whoever signed off on Melania’s speech should be held accountable and fired.

    Newt Gingrich said plagiarism was no big deal for Biden, etc., (except that Biden had to drop out of the presidential race in 1987.) Oh, oh, ya, except for that.

  85. Don Coyote 2016-07-19 18:15

    @cah:”Sam Smith may not have meant to copy Tom Petty, and Tom Petty didn’t invent music, but Sam Smith still has to credit Tom Petty and pay him royalties.”

    And Led Zeppelin may not have meant to copy Spirit in Zeppelin’s opening riff of “Stairway to Heaven” but evidently the jury believed Page and Plant when they claimed that that note progression was common and had existed for three hundred years. Common just like Melania Trump’s phraseology in her speech.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-36611961

    “Trump’s speech was nothing but those platitudes, both the ones copied from Obama and the rest of the speech, failing to offer any of the vivid examples or personal authenticity that made Obama’s 2008 speech a far better speech.” – cah

    Really? Michelle’s 2008 speech was full of the same platitudes and banalities as was Melania’s. Both spoke highly of a sibling and thanked their parents for instilling in them the values they used to reach adulthood. Both spoke of overcoming humble beginnings, Michelle rising out of Chicago’s South Side and Melania emigrating from communist Yugoslavia to the US and becoming a citizen.

    They both gave a nod to the military and military families for their service. They both showered their husbands with praise and made the case for why they would be great Presidents. If you are going to ctiticize Trump’s speech for being vapid and banal then Michelle’s was too. Both were nothing more tor less than a politician’s wife making a motivational appeal and political case for their husband’s nomination. Michelle’s speech “historic”? BS.

  86. Don Coyote 2016-07-19 18:32

    @Darin Larson: Biden’s campaign in 1987/1988 was a long shot to begin with and was going absolutely nowhere. Even after Hart dropped out over his sex scandal, Biden failed to distinguish himself from the field. While revelation of Biden’s plagiarism was bad enough, Biden drove his campaign into the ditch by inflating his academic record.

    Biden claimed he went to law school on a full ride. False. Biden claimed he graduated in the top half of his law class when he was near the bottom. Biden claimed he earned three undergraduate degrees. False. He doubled majored with one degree. And my all time favorite was when Biden went mano a mano with a voter over who had the higher IQ. It was like watching somebody deliberately sabotaging his campaign so he could drop out.

  87. Darin Larson 2016-07-19 18:33

    Coyote, you can’t be serious that you are defending Trump’s plagiarism as common phraseology. Play the video side by side. It is not just that the phrases were the same, which they were. Each phrase was in the exact same order as Michelle Obama’s speech.

    Trump’s campaign puts it like the Marx brothers, “Who are you going to believe me or your lying eyes?”

  88. Darin Larson 2016-07-19 18:36

    Coyote, good to know there was no consequences for Biden’s plagiarism. I like Uncle Joe.

  89. Roger Cornelius 2016-07-19 18:58

    Coyote,
    Early in the comments you said MLK committed felony plagiarism, what exactly is that and what are sentences for this felony?

  90. Roger Cornelius 2016-07-19 19:00

    Coyote,
    In your comparison of Michelle Obama and Melania Trump, you neglected to mention that Michelle never lied about her education whereas Melania did.

  91. Darin Larson 2016-07-19 19:04

    The Trump campaign’s use of other people’s work without permission continued yesterday. As reported by CBS news, Trump entered the RNC to the sounds of “We are the Champions” by Queen which asked the RNC not to use the song. A licensing fee was paid by the RNC who decided to use it over the objection of Queen.

    The irony pointed out by CBS was that the anti-same-sex marriage RNC was using a song sung by a gay man, Freddy Mercury, who died of AIDS, to introduce their nominee. Well, part of the song fits–Trump doesn’t have time for losers.

  92. grudznick 2016-07-19 19:08

    Mr. Coyote,
    you make good points.

  93. Darin Larson 2016-07-19 19:09

    Also, I find the fact that Freddie Mercury was an immigrant to the UK whose given name was Farrokh Bulsara is equally ironic given the Trump stance against immigrants.

  94. GeneK 2016-07-19 19:13

    Quote of the Day:

    They stole the part about the importance of honor and integrity.

  95. grudznick 2016-07-19 20:00

    Mr. Larson, do you think Mr. Trump knows that Bulsara fellow was homosexual and probably smoking a lot of the demon weed when he wrote or sang the song?

  96. Dave Baumeister 2016-07-19 20:05

    I see a lot of people focused on the plagiarism, but I find the most notable thing to be that the speech plagiarizes a person whom the Trump campaign and Republicans in general have constantly maligned, pointing out (yet again) what complete hypocrites they are. “THOSE OBAMAS ARE TERRIBLE PEOPLE AND LEADERS…but we are going to use their words to show what great people we are…” However, in all fairness, the person who wrote the speech for Melania Trump could have written the speech for Michelle Obama in 2008. After all, doesn’t Trump say he only hires the best people??

    And I love all of the Freddie Mercury connections, too.

  97. Darin Larson 2016-07-19 20:10

    Grudz, I assume that Trump has a whole team of people thinking about immigrants, gays, Mexicans, pot smokers, and other people to blame. He can’t be troubled with the details of hate. He is in charge of the big picture, like Making America Great Again. I mean who could be against that?

  98. grudznick 2016-07-19 20:12

    I have noticed a lot of people looking at this supposed plagiarism, but I find the most notable thing to be that the talk plagiarizes a person that Mr. Trump’s campaign and Republicans in general have usually maligned, pointing out how hypocritical the person is.

    And everybody loves all the Freddie Bulsara connections, too.

  99. Rorschach 2016-07-19 21:49

    I wonder if the Trump campaign had permission from the Rolling Stones on Saturday for the Pence announcement when they kept a waiting crowd entertained with the song, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” Trump’s first choice indeed.

    For all of you religious conservative reading this, Trump is for human cloning. Obviously. If he could presently clone himself he would have picked his clone as his running mate.

  100. Darin Larson 2016-07-19 22:50

    Cory, aside from its mention without attribution, that Trump Jr. quote is quite the attack on teachers and administrators.

  101. Don Coyote 2016-07-19 23:25

    @cah: Can’t be plagiarism since F H Buckley, the author of the “lifted lines”, helped write the speech. “I was a speechwriter for this speech. So I’m afraid there’s no issue here.”

  102. mike from iowa 2016-07-19 23:33

    Freddie Mercury was quadrasexual. He would do anything with anyone for a quarter. I heard that somewhere a long time ago.

  103. Don Coyote 2016-07-19 23:38

    @RC: “Coyote, Early in the comments you said MLK committed felony plagiarism, what exactly is that and what are sentences for this felony?”

    No, what I said was that MLK was a felony plagiarist. The etymology of the word felon shows that it originally meant “an evil-doer, or someone who deceives, commits treason; is wicked, or is evil.” Isn’t someone who plagiarizes engaging in deception? This is how I meant it not the more modern definition of criminal law.

  104. Roger Cornelius 2016-07-20 00:36

    I wasn’t aware MLK was a felon, Coyote.

    So, according to your usage it would be safe to say that Melania Trump is an immigrant plagiarist.

  105. Jenny 2016-07-20 04:46

    This was all set up, Trump is making sure that Hillary will be our next president.

  106. Darin Larson 2016-07-20 07:22

    The truth is coming out that two speechwriters were hired and they did the drafts. Melania Trump then rewrote the speeches and she was the one that lifted the passages from Michelle Obama. This maybe what everyone suspected from the beginning. Professionals would have never made this mistake.

  107. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-07-20 10:47

    Rep. Lynne DiSanto, SDGOP delegate, excusifies for Melania Trump: “I don’t believe she plagiarized…. I just think that the media’s having a difficult time with Melania. She’s a very classy, sophisticated woman, she has an amazing story. I just believe the media tries to discredit her and make her look bad” [in Sharon Waxman And Itay Hod, Republican Convention Delegates Defend Melania Speech But Hey, ‘Somebody Goofed’,” The Wrap, 2016.07.19].

    Plagiarism is not sexism, media bias, or political fabrication. It is plagiarism, an act for which students get zeroes and speechwriters get fired.

  108. Craig 2016-07-20 13:28

    It seems one of the Trump speechwriters (Meredith McIver) has fallen on the sword and taken responsibility for the issue. She claims it was because Melania repeated some of Michelle Obama’s statements over the phone and McIver wrote them down not knowing they were essentially verbatim.

    So yes it was plagiarism, but it seems per McIver it was unintentional. So much for the Trump spokesman claims that Melania wrote the speech herself and that the words “were her own”.

    We shouldn’t worry about this too much though… after all, Trump’s entire campaign is plagiarized from an episode of the Simpsons.

  109. Darin Larson 2016-07-20 14:04

    Cory, my question to Disanto is if Melania has a great story to tell then why isn’t she telling it. Why was she telling Michelle Obama’s story?

    And if there was no plagiarism, then why did the Trump speechwriter just apologize for plagiarism? Disanto’s denial makes her look like an imbecile or a liar.

    They get their panties in a wad over allegations of Hillary’s untruthfulness and they can’t tell the truth on a deal like this? What is with the constant obfuscation, deflection and denial? Blaming this on the Hillary campaign? They best sell their glass house and move to a Trump condo because they can’t seem to tell the truth on anything.

  110. Troy Jones 2016-07-20 15:03

    Cory,

    I agree it is plagiarism (or very, very close since the words aren’t exact but I think saying close is splitting hairs) for which should be rightly criticized. I wasn’t piling onto what you said but more the commenters on each side who saw the significance of the plagiarism according to preconceived bias.

    My comment was mostly that even if it ends up being Melania who did it at her own computer, it won’t affect the election because the criteria of the people in the middle won’t consider it significant, even if the facts are most unflattering to Melania.

  111. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-07-20 15:11

    Excusifiers, stand down. As Craig notes, Trump speechwriter Meredith McIver admits the passages in question came from Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech. That’s plagiarism.

    McIver letter: http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/politics/trump-staffers-apology-letter-for-melania-trumps-speech/2091/

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-trump-captures-gop-nomination-former-rivals-prepare-to-take-the-stage/2016/07/20/13e5c4c0-4e23-11e6-a422-83ab49ed5e6a_story.html

    Team Trump lied and excusified for 36 hours before telling us the simple truth and admitting its mistake. I am inclined to agree with Troy that this incident may not have much electoral traction compared with other issues. But let’s be clear about the facts: Melania Trump’s speech was plagiarized. From an educational perspective, it shows the need for close attention to sources.

  112. Troy Jones 2016-07-20 15:48

    CH,

    Clarity question:

    You said “Melania Trump’s speech was plagiarized.” Wasn’t it Michelle Obama’s speech that was plagiarized? :)

    Side question: Quarterbacks PURPOSELY pretend to hand the ball to the full-back to distract the other team from noticing the movement of the half back the other way. Could the speech been a fake to distract attention from those Republicans like Lattrell who made statements against Trump?

    It’s pretty standard political maneuvering. Obama did similar things to distract discussion away from other things. Bush did it.

  113. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-07-20 16:05

    Yes, Troy, I worded my sentence poorly. Melania Trump’s speech contained passages that originally appeared in Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech. Team Trump plagiarized Michelle Obama.

  114. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-07-20 16:07

    A fake to keep us from seeing the Latterell? Quarterbacks may fake a hand-off, but they don’t deliberately trip or fumble the ball. Come now, Troy, there are far more constructive ways to catch attention than deliberately harming oneself. Drop a propaganda bomb on Team Clinton.

  115. mike from iowa 2016-07-20 16:10

    Someone was grousing awhile back that HRC’s first instinct is to do the wrong thing-or something along that line. What does this say about Drumpf, since he is totally in charge of destroying his campaign?

  116. Douglas Wiken 2016-07-20 16:44

    Darin Larson said it right: Cory, that is what gets me. If the Trump campaign would just say that Melania’s use of Michelle Obama’s words were inadvertent and that those themes ring true for Melania as well as Michelle, they could get past this in short order. ”

    All of us have probably had our phrases and sentences used by somebody else. Most political comments probably paraphrase something Socrates or Plato said or wrote. Just as covering up a crime may be worse than the crime, trying to get past this by lies or distortions is foolish.

    Mrs. Trump would make a lot of points if she just came out with her husband and note that her use of Mrs. Obama’s phrases was inadvertent and she has to admit that it was good material and Thank Mrs. Obama for blazing a trail with her words.

    Ego gets in the way of common sense.

    And it is too damn hot to spend much more time on this.

  117. Roger Cornelius 2016-07-20 18:21

    So, now we come to it. All those that were blaming Hillary for Melania’s plagiarism were wrong.
    All those long winded justifications an explanations were wrong.
    We now have a Trump staffer claiming responsibility for Trump’s commie wife’s plagiarism.
    Cory has earned the right to say, ” I told you so”, he maintained his position throughout this blog.
    Good work Cory.

  118. mike from iowa 2016-07-20 18:43

    Drumpf accused the media of spending more time investigating Melania’s plagiarism than the FBI did investigating Clinton’s emails.
    Liar,liar pants on fire.

  119. leslie 2016-07-22 17:47

    80 hour troy-taking apart a debate coach/teacher’s blog? ironic. rarely have I seen a post from u that is not mangled, poorly written, difficult to understand, and spun more than GOP standard bearers. of course, lookwho is talkin’:)

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