'She was devastated': Melania Trump's guilt after plagiarizing Michelle Obama's speech
In her unauthorized biography Free, Melania, published in December 2019, journalist Kate Bennett returns to this episode which would have "depressed" the American first lady.
July 2016. Melania Trump is not a First Lady yet. Invited to deliver a speech at the Republican Party convention during her husband's campaign, she takes center stage. The only downside, the audience noted strange similarities between this speech and that of Michelle Obama, delivered at the Democratic convention in 2008. In question? Two almost identical passages from these two speeches. A stormy episode, mentioned in Free, Melania (Ed. Flatiron), the unauthorized biography of Kate Bennett, published in December 2019.
ICYMI: Melania Trump lifted a large segment of her RNC speech from Michelle Obama.https://t.co/Z0mMaI0WKA
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) July 19, 2016
"Depressed" and "guilt-ridden"
According to the CNN journalist, this blunder would be linked, in the first place, to a lack of personnel. Melania Trump's speech would thus have "fallen through the cracks", and would not have been revised or corrected. Heavily criticized, the first lady was reportedly "devastated" by the incident. "She was 'beside herself', as one assistant told me. Yet there was no slamming of doors, throwing vases, blind anger or reprimands towards the teams, ”says the author.
Before adding, “Instead, she was depressed, gnawed at by guilt. "She felt like she let the team down," said someone who worked on Donald Trump's campaign (…) She just wanted to get on stage and give a great performance, and get a big win " . " Meredith McIver, one of the authors of the speech, had then formulated her mea culpa. She explained at the time that she received a call from Melania Trump, who cited as an example passages from Michelle Obama's speech. “I didn’t check Mrs. Obama’s speech,” Meredith McIver continued. This is my mistake and I feel very bad for the chaos I have caused (...) "
In video, Melania Trump plagiarizes Michelle Obama's speech
"Memorable and independent"
Along with the account of this incident, the biography Free, Melania offers her readers a whole new perspective on America's First Lady. When referring to the ambiguous relationship between the President of the United States and his wife - the latter, for example, avoiding taking his hand in public - Kate Bennett affirms: "With each snub, sting, rebuff and grimace, she becomes a increasingly memorable and independent first lady. It’s in those moments that we see the real Melania Trump. ”
The author thus presents the politician, not as a prisoner of her role, but as "a Melania who is not afraid to make her husband happy or to anger her". "A Melania who doesn't mean to be ignored," she says. Kate Bennett adds that, contrary to rumors, the former model herself would have pushed Donald Trump to run for president, "tired, very tired of hearing" of this ambition.
Ivanka and Melania, a "cordial" relationship
Free, Melania also tells us that the Trumps live on different floors from the White House, or that Melania would have gradually moved away from Ivanka Trump: “The White House was not a good thing for the relationship between Melania and Ivanka Trump, Kate Bennett recounts. They have been described to me as "cordial, but not close" (…). "
Words decried by Melania Trump in person. "Mrs. Trump is surprised by the story of Kate Bennett," said the spokesperson for the first lady, Stéphanie Grisham, in the columns of People. Our office worked in good faith with Kate to help her write her book, and we thought she would do an honest job (…) unfortunately… it includes a lot of detail and false opinions, demonstrating that Ms. Bennett has talked to many anonymous people who don't know the first lady. ” Perhaps the main interested party will one day tell her own truth.
