Republican Convention 2016

Amateur Melania Trump/Michelle Obama Plagiarism Job Ends Amateur First Night of RNC

A portion of Melania Trump's speech is identical to a portion of the speech Michelle Obama gave at the 2008 convention.

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Large image on homepages | Natan Dvir/Polaris/Newscom
(Natan Dvir/Polaris/Newscom)
Natan Dvir/Polaris/Newscom

Melania Trump, wife of Donald Trump, wooed mainstream political pundits with her primetime speech, based on their fawning on the cable news networks and social media. Then she was followed by more speeches. By the time Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) spoke, the convention floor appeared mostly empty.

And now, as the night comes to an end, accusations are surfacing that a portion of Melania Trump's was plagiarized from Michelle Obama's 2008 speech at the Democratic National Convention.

Melania's lines:

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.

Michelle's lines:

Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values, like you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond, that you do what you say you're going ot 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.

Watch a clip splicing both the relevant portions of both speeches below, including a further bit about passing said values down through the generations, courtesy Yair Rosenberg, through whom I first saw this story:

I'd expect it to get more play in RNC coverage in the morning, barring a tweet storm from Donald Trump tonight.

Flashback: "Just words"