When Melania Trump plagiarizes Michelle Obama
Two passages of the intervention of the wife of the candidate for the White House, Monday evening in Cleveland, are almost identical to the speech delivered by Michelle Obama at the Democratic convention, eight years ago.
Monday evening, at the end of the first day of the Republican Party convention, meeting in Cleveland, Melania Trump tried, in a well-received speech, to present her husband as a unifier. But another element of his intervention marked the observers. At least two passages resembled almost word for word Michelle Obama's text at the 2008 Democratic convention.
"My parents instilled in me the values that you have to work hard to get what you want out of life, that a word is a commitment, that you do what you say, that you keep your promise and treat people with respect,” said Melania Trump. “They taught me to display values and morals in my everyday life. This is the lesson I will pass on to our son,” she added. "And we need to pass those lessons on to many generations to come because we want our children to know that in this nation the only limit to success is the strength of their dreams and their will to make that they come true,” she said.
“I wrote it, with a little help”
Melania Trump.
These few paragraphs, taken from the speech of about a quarter of an hour, resemble a few words close to the words used in 2008 by Michelle Obama during the inauguration of her husband, Barack Obama. "Barack and I were brought up with so many similar values: you have to work hard to get what you want out of life, that a word is a commitment, that you do what you says, that we keep our promise and that we treat people with dignity and respect, even when you do not know them and even if you do not agree with them, “said Michelle Obama at the time. "Barack and I want to pass on these values to future generations," she added. "Because we want our children to know that in this nation the only limit to success is the size of their dreams and their willingness to make them come true."
Trump campaign team rejects plagiarism claims
"In writing her beautiful speech, Melania's team took notes on the sources of inspiration in her life, and in some cases included fragments reflecting her own thought", reacted in the night Jason Miller, member of the candidate's communications team, in an ambiguous press release, without admitting plagiarism. "Melania's immigration experience and her love for America informed her speech, which ensured her success." On Tuesday morning, Trump's campaign team got more aggressive in denouncing the plagiarism charges. "To think that she could have done this kind of thing knowing very well how closely her speech would be scrutinized is really absurd," reacted Donald Trump's campaign manager Paul Manafort, on CNN, recalling that she was speaking in front of millions of people.
Before delivering her speech, Melania Trump told NBC, "I wrote it, with a little help."
