Melania Trump’s “Plagiarism” Of Michelle Obama Ignites Firestorm

One of the more uplifting sections in Melania Trump’s convention speech Monday night was virtually identical to a passage from Michelle Obama’s convention speech in 2008.

         Here's the key moment in 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. [Cheering] 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 a similar passage from Obama’s speech in 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 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 copying is too extensive to be a mere coincidence, which is why so many people are calling it plagiarism. The fact that the plagiarized lines are about the value of "hard work" just makes it all the more striking.

Earlier, CNN had reported that Melania had been working with a speechwriter "for the last five to six weeks, honing her speech."

Regardless of who actually wrote it, big speeches like these are typically vetted closely by staffers to avoid these sorts of snafus. James Fallows, a journalist and former White House speechwriter, points out that "This kind of speech-vetting is [the] most elementary sort of operational campaign competence." Clearly there was a huge organizational breakdown somewhere along the way.

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