Melania Trump’s Speech Bears Striking Similarities to Michelle Obama’s in 2008
CLEVELAND - Melania Trump earned praise for her speech on Monday at the opening night of the Republican National Convention, but her remarks almost immediately came under scrutiny when striking similarities were discovered between her speech and one delivered by Michelle Obama at the Democratic convention in 2008.
The phrases in question came when Ms. Trump - who told NBC News earlier on Monday that she had written her speech herself - was discussing her upbringing in Slovenia and her parents.
Here are the relevant passages.
“From a young age, 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 and showed me values and morals in their daily lives. That is a lesson that I continue to pass along to our son. And we need to pass those lessons on to the many generations to follow. 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.”
Mrs. Obama, in her 2008 speech:
“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.”
Ms. Trump:
“I was born in Slovenia, a small, beautiful and then-Communist country in Central Europe. My sister, Ines, who is an incredible woman and a friend, and I were raised by my wonderful parents. My elegant and hard-working mother, Amalija, introduced me to fashion and beauty. My father, Viktor, instilled in me a passion for business and travel. Their integrity, compassion and intelligence reflects to this day on me and for my love of family and America.”
Mrs. Obama, in 2008:
“And I come here as a daughter - raised on the South Side of Chicago by a father who was a blue-collar city worker and a mother who stayed at home with my brother and me. My mother’s love has always been a sustaining force for our family, and one of my greatest joys is seeing her integrity, her compassion and her intelligence reflected in my own daughters.”
Jarrett Hill, a Twitter user whose biography describes him as an interior designer and journalist, apparently first noticed the resemblance between Ms. Trump’s speech and Mrs. Obama’s in 2008.
But Ms. Trump said in an interview taped with Matt Lauer of NBC before her speech that she went over it just once in advance. “I wrote it with as little help as possible,” she said.
Mr. Trump’s aides declined to identify who, if anyone, on the campaign helped in writing the speech. Mr. Trump’s main speechwriter is Stephen Miller, and the convention program and speakers have been managed by the campaign’s chief strategist, Paul Manafort.
In a statement released just before 2 a.m., a campaign spokesman, Jason Miller, praised Ms. Trump’s speech, which he suggested was written by other people whom he did not identify.
He did not directly address the similarities to Mrs. Obama’s speech, but he indicated that Ms. Trump had “included fragments” from other people.
“In writing her beautiful speech, Melania’s team of writers took notes on her life’s inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking,” Mr. Miller said. “Melania’s immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech, which made it a success.”
As the controversy broke out, Mr. Trump posted on Twitter: “It was truly an honor to introduce my wife, Melania. Her speech and demeanor were absolutely incredible. Very proud!”
Some of Mr. Trump’s staunchest defenders had trouble explaining the overlapping language. On CNN, Jeffrey Lord, a commentator and Trump supporter, called it “a serious thing” and recalled the plagiarism scandal that helped sink Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s 1988 presidential bid. Mr. Lord speculated that a staff member on Mr. Trump’s campaign was responsible and added that whoever it was should be let go.
Sarah Hurwitz, a White House speechwriter who composed Mrs. Obama’s 2008 address, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Speeches by political spouses tend to be deeply personal and even idiosyncratic, because they often describe specific qualities and anecdotes that only a husband or wife would know. Ann Romney delivered a detailed testimonial about Mitt Romney’s private side at the Republican convention in 2012, the sort of highly tailored speech that spouses have delivered for decades about presidential nominees.
Ms. Trump’s speech was praised by Republicans as one of the evening’s high points. It was one of the first such public forays by a woman who is deeply private.
As it happened, the thrust of Monday night’s speaker lineup was what Republicans called the inauthenticity and incompetence of Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Mr. Hill, a television journalist who was recently laid off, said in an interview that one of Ms. Trump’s lines - the words “strength of your dreams” - caught his attention as he was watching on his computer from a Starbucks in Los Angeles, juggling Facebook chats and browsing Twitter.
“It kind of made me pause for a minute,” Mr. Hill said. “I remembered that line from Michelle Obama’s speech.”
Mr. Hill, 31, found the clip of Mrs. Obama’s speech online and noticed that parts of the two speeches sounded the same. He then realized that a larger portion appeared to have been borrowed as he continued to examine both.
“I thought, ‘That’s legit plagiarism,’ ” said Mr. Hill, who described himself as a supporter of President Obama. “ ‘Someone took this piece and plugged in their own information.’ ”Accusations of plagiarism are not unheard-of in political speeches, although the consequences have varied.
In 2008, Mrs. Clinton criticized Mr. Obama for appearing to lift a passage from Deval Patrick, then the governor of Massachusetts, in a speech about how words matter. Mr. Obama, then a senator, said that he could have credited Mr. Patrick but that he did not consider it a case of plagiarism.
When Mr. Biden was running for president in the 1980s, he faced questions about plagiarizing speeches from Robert F. Kennedy, Hubert H. Humphrey and Neil Kinnock, a British Labor Party leader. Mr. Biden said at the time that it was “ludicrous” to expect a politician to attribute everything he said.
Mr. Trump’s reed-thin campaign staff, which served him well in the Republican primary contests, has started to grow in recent weeks. But he has struggled to professionalize his operation to adapt to a general election.
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