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At last night’s Republican National Convention, Melania Trump gave a speech introducing husband and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that sounded a lot like one Michelle Obama made in 2008. Melania was immediately accused of plagiarism, with many on Twitter pulling up proof that her words were not all her own.
https://twitter.com/yair_rosenberg/status/755251813989904384
Melania allegedly stole two paragraphs from Michelle’s Democratic National Convention speech eight years ago. The portion lifted is as follows:
“And 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 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 to pass them onto 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 hard for them.”
The Donald Trump campaign has denied Melania plagiarized her speech, given on the first night of the RNC in Cleveland, Ohio.
“To think that she would do something like that knowing how scrutinized her speech was going to be last night is just really absurd,” Paul Manafort, chairman of Trump’s campaign told CNN today. “There’s no cribbing of Michelle Obama’s speech. These were common words and values. She cares about her family. To think that she’d be cribbing Michelle Obama’s words is crazy. This is once again an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton, she seeks out to demean her and take her down. It’s not going to work.”
Michael Dutcher poked fun at Manafort’s response, using #MichelleSaidItBetter. It was just one of several hashtags in reaction to the political blunder.
I loved @PaulManafort saying common words – it's #plagarism when they are in the same order #MichelleSaidItBetter
— Michael Dutcher (@michaeldutcher) July 19, 2016
Patsy Zarilla tweeted how shameful it was that Obama’s accomplishment as the first Black first lady has resulted in her speech getting stolen.
https://twitter.com/pzarilla/status/755358127378272256
The White House declined to give a comment to CNN, but the Trump campaign released a statement after the similarities in each speech were discovered. It did not mention plagiarism.
“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,” it read in part.
Twitter isn’t buying it. After the speech was made, several other hashtags sprung up online.
#FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes found Melania using famous phrases as her own.
“Grey’s Anatomy” actor Jesse Williams quoted Rihanna’s hit “Work.”
"Work, work, work, work, work, work
He say me have to
Work, work, work, work, work, work!" #FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) July 19, 2016
@WaladShami combined two trending topics by quoting yesterday’s Taylor Swift drama along with Melania’s speech gaffe.
https://twitter.com/WaladShami/status/755313858433069056
Goldie Taylor quoted Birdman’s now famous incident on “The Breakfast Club” in her tweet.
https://twitter.com/goldietaylor/status/755367048922927105
While Hugh Evans tweeted a meme with Obama asking Melania to “bring back my speech.”
"Be the change you want to see in the World" – #FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes pic.twitter.com/cJJqJ9diTy
— Hugh Evans (@Hughcevans) July 19, 2016
