Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 07:13 pm
We have been witness to night of chaos, and it is safe to say even the failed Turkish military coup was better orchestrated than the Republican convention, which Rachel Maddow characterized as “a remarkable turn of events.”
To be blunt, it was a chain of catastrophic events, and not least of them was Melania Trump’s speech.
First, here is what Trump had to say:
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It was truly an honor to introduce my wife, Melania. Her speech and demeanor were absolutely incredible. Very proud! #GOPConvention
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2016
It was first observed on social media, even while Melania Trump was speaking, that something fishy was going on. And as Maddow went on to observe, there were “some unusual similarities, some unusual, very tight parallels” between the speech Melania Trump gave and that given by Michele Obama at the 2008 Democratic convention.
Not to put too fine a point on it, as Steve Schmidt summarized, “This is A plagiarized speech, hands down.â€
Watch the “rudimentary video comparisons” of the two speeches from MSNBC’s The Place for Politics:
RACHEL MADDOW: We’ve had a remarkable turn of events.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Something has happened, you might say.
MADDOW: This started on social media, people on Twitter first started circulating sort of eyebrow-raising claims about Melania Trump’s speech this evening. That led us, because it started to pick up a lot of speed online, it led to us go dig up the archival material and check these claims. And it does appear that are some unusual similarities, some unusual, very tight parallels between Melania Trump’s speech tonight and Michelle Obama’s speech in a similar position in the 2008 Democratic nominating convention for her husband, Barack Obama.
[…]
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: There is no university in America that would not rule this as plagiarism. There is no question that the speechwriters for Melania Trump – Melania Trump could not possibly have known that this was plagiarism – but the speechwriters certainly did in the second passage that we played there sequentially, 22 words out of 26 words that Melania Trump spoke were taken directly, word for word from Michele Obama’s words…There is no question that the speechwriters that worked on this lifted it directly from Michele Obama’s speech…This is pure plagiarism.
STEVE SCHMIDT: Really the highlight of tonight’s speech — the highlight of tonight’s activities was Melania Trump’s speech. This turns this night into a catastrophe. This is a plagiarized speech, hands down, game, set, match on that. What an outrageous disservice to Melania Trump by the speech writers on that campaign. Nicole Wallace talked earlier today about the fact that the Trump campaign such as it is is not configured like a normal political campaign. And maybe you don’t need to be configured like a normal campaign. We know tonight, as you watch the incongruity between the speeches, the lack of a theme, the lack of a connection, the day starting off with the targeting and attacking the Ohio governor, right through the end of the program. Hamilton on Broadway is a great show, a great production, no one leaves it early. Tonight, in the middle of a show, and be clear, this is a show, a lot of people left it early. This is not a good first night, and now you have brought scandal to a prospective First Lady in the form of her convention speech. Just an outrageous incompetence and disservice to her by that campaign.
[…]
CHRIS MATTHEWS: It’s devastating and dumb, and here’s my question, and it’s open to everyone: There was a speech writer, someone did a draft with all these, as Lawrence pointed out perfectly, obviously lifted, the whole thing’s lifted, all these chunks of words all in the same sequence, follow the same sequence with the same words. This is plagiarism, and the question is, the speech writer who drafted this knew where he or she got it, Lawrence, they knew they got it from Michelle Obama’s speech in the same circumstance, and then they delivered it to their boss, to their client. Why would they do that? Why would they do it on purpose? Because this is purposeful. I know it sounds spooky to say sabotage, but it was so purposeful, you wonder what was the purpose except to sabotage? Because somebody was going to figure this out, and they did, and they got it into the news cycle. We’re not even into the morning editions yet. And this is deadly. And I only say sabotage because it’s so clear cut that the person who did this did this on purpose. That’s what’s so hard to figure out, guys.
As Lawrence O’Donnell said, “If Donald Trump is true to form, he will absolutely deny that this is plagiarism, he will not fire those speechwriters or we won’t be able in any way to track that they’ve been fired. I doubt very much that they will admit to this.”
Indeed. What do we get from Melania Trump on her speech? This tweet:
Statement on Melania Trump Speech pic.twitter.com/80KgS0jxXz
— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) July 19, 2016
What does this say about Trump other than the fact that his campaign is a sham? As folks noted on Twitter last night, “Melania Trump could not have picked a better role model than Michelle Obama. She must think so highly of her to lift her words.”
Trump did, after all, call it an “incredible” speech.
Thanks Obama.
Michele Obama, it is worth repeating, stressed that her and Barack shared these ideals. By “quoting” the First Lady, Melania Trump has, in a sense, endorsed Barack Obama and to the extent Melania is speaking for Donald, Trump himself has endorsed Barack Obama’s two terms.
Yes. A most remarkable turn of events.
On a more humerous note, the whole episode has spawned a new meme on Twitter: #FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes, like this one:
"There is a woman convinced that all that shines is gold, and she is purchasing a stairway that goes to heaven."#FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes
— Norse Mythology (@NorseMythNews) July 19, 2016
Welcome to the age of the plagiarized presidency. If you don’t have any ideas of your own, use those belonging to somebody else.
You have to wonder whose speech will come next at the Republican convention. Millard Fillmore, who was “moderate” on the issue of slavery, perhaps? Or even George Washington, who owned hundreds of slaves before he began to support abolition? We can only hope for George W. Bush will make an appearance, very much against his will, coming out of the mouth of the Trump campaign.
Mission accomplished.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
