We know how Melania Trump could have plagiarized Michelle Obama's speech
The New York Times has conducted a fascinating investigation to try to understand how such a big mistake could have slipped through the cracks and what this blunder says about the Trump campaign. “Spoiler alert”: It's all the billionaire couple's fault.
It was to be the strongest and most personal moment of the Republican Convention that inducted Donald Trump as a presidential candidate. Except that the speech of Melanie Trump, ex-top model of Slovenian origin, was marred by a dirty story of plagiarism. Several parts of her speech sounded like two drops of water to the one given at the 2008 Democratic Convention by Michelle Obama. Obviously, the opportunity was too good for Trump's critics to pass up. Since Monday July 18, 2016, date of the speech, mockery and articles have flourished.
With a still unanswered question: How could such a big plagiarism get through? The answer comes from The New York Times, which surveyed Trump's entourage and political discourse professionals. And according to the paper, this is the full fault of Melania Trump, and it reveals the major dysfunctions of her husband's campaign.
According to the American daily, the two writers of the speech, Matthew Scully and John McConnell, sent a first version of the speech for validation last month. “The weeks have passed, they have had no return. It turns out that, not satisfied with the text, Melania Trump decided to strike out most of it. And to rewrite it all ... by mixing the words of Michelle Obama. Result: she makes a fool of herself in front of 23 million viewers and even more on social networks. The two feathers discovered, like everyone else, the Trump version of their text in front of their television screens, while one of the speech writers for Barack Obama couldn't believe his ears when he heard the words si Michelle Obama's own in the mouth of Melania Trump. “'Your word is your link,' I've never heard of a politician like that. That’s when I knew it was a copy, ”he said.
"It should never have happened," reacts a George W. Bush quill quoted by The Times. They had everything to gain with this speech about a beautiful and successful immigrant. "
The newspaper further explains that plagiarism detection software exists everywhere, including free online. The speeches and interventions of politicians are generally sifted through these systems, while the slightest information is factchecked. But Melania Trump's speech fell through the cracks.
"This reinforces the dominant themes of Mr. Trump's campaign that were already felt during the primary and which his team is struggling to get rid of," analyzes the newspaper. A deliberately pared-down campaign structure, sloppy styling and a preference to rely on the instincts of the candidate rather than the experience of experts in politics "as the two chosen feathers of speech.
The failure of the speech apparently greatly annoyed Donald Trump, who would have spent his day on Tuesday "trying to get rid of his frustration and anger". But, facing the camera, he didn't seem more upset than that, having let it be known that none of his staff would have to suffer the consequences of this failure. "Rule # 1: do not plagiarize. If you do, you get fired, ”retorts another expert to The Times, however. But Trump’s team doesn’t work that way. It is built around "a freewheeling candidate who has trouble admitting his mistakes" and who has surrounded himself with people like Jared Kushner, his stepson, who commissioned the speech from Scully and McCornell, or as Meredith McIver, advisor to Melania and Donald Trump. In a press release, it is the latter who ultimately takes responsibility for this gross error: “On the phone, [Melania Trump] read to me passages from Michelle Obama's speech, as examples. I wrote them down and included some of them in the draft which then became the real speech. She says she submitted her resignation, which was refused.
However, this whole story once again annoys moderate Republicans, who once again see the billionaire's propensity to steal the ideas of others without worrying about the consequences - like his slogan "Make America Great Again" very close to that of Reagan "America First" -, and African-Americans offended to note that "a white woman still appropriates the work of a black". Not to mention that it gives the Democrats a new cartridge. But Trump isn't quite that close anymore. Especially since, according to him, bad publicity is still publicity: "Good news, we talk more about Melania's speech than any other political speech!" And he turns the tables, as he likes to do: "The media spend more time scrutinizing Melania's speech than the FBI does Hillary's emails. "
