Many spectators from both political parties praised Melania Trump’s speech about her husband, Donald, on the Republican National Convention’s opening night At least, they thought it went better than expected. It was shortly after her speech concluded that reporter Jarrett Hill noticed some striking similarities between the third Mrs. Trump’s speech and one given by now-First Lady Michelle Obama at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. (Also there was an … um … Rick Roll in there too?)
Every reporter in the country and most of Twitter blew up. They dragged the possible future First Lady until all hours of the night and then again the following morning. The plagiarism was so impossible to miss that some even suspected a conspiracy theory where someone purposely slipped Melania a terrible speech to undermine her husband’s candidacy and the GOP’s platform. Melania and campaign staffers insisted she wrote the speech herself – supposedly working on it for six hours – but rumors still swirled.
According to the The New York Times though, Melania did indeed pen the final draft of the speech herself with the help of a friend, so any plagiarism charges are going to be against the pair and them alone. She turned down a draft provided by a speechwriting duo hired for the campaign, and while the outcome may not cause the downfall of Trump’s campaign, it is definitely a gaffe that shows no signs of going away quickly:
The speechwriters, Matthew Scully and John McConnell, sent Ms. Trump a draft last month, eager for her approval.
Weeks went by. They heard nothing.
Inside Trump Tower, it turned out, Ms. Trump had decided she was uncomfortable with the text, and began tearing it apart, leaving a small fraction of the original.
…
It was Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser, who commissioned the speech from Mr. Scully and Mr. McConnell — and praised their draft. But Ms. Trump decided to revise it, and at one point she turned to a trusted hand: Meredith McIver, a New York City-based former ballet dancer and English major who has worked on some of Mr. Trump’s books, including “Think Like a Billionaire.” It was not clear how much of a hand Ms. McIver had in the final product, and she did not respond to an email on Tuesday.
Research for the speech, it seems, drew them to the previous convention speeches delivered by candidates’ spouses.
The Trump campaign declined to say who or how many senior campaign officials read or reviewed the speech. But when Ms. Trump and her staff had finished revising the speech, virtually all that remained from the original was an introduction and a passage that included the phrase “a national campaign like no other.”
It’s true that many convention orations carry same-but-different messages promoted by both parties and candidates throughout the years, but this situation may not fit that mold.
The comprehensive Times report also notes that the Trump campaign does not use plagiarism-finding software, which is free and used by pretty much every political outfit in the country. If a high school English teacher makes use of such programs, a Presidential campaign should probably be taking advantage of the service as well. This is hardly the first error by the Trump machine and the cracks are becoming more and more visible with every passing event:
To many Republicans, the lapse seemed frustratingly inevitable from a candidate who has not just eschewed the backstops of a major political campaign — he has mocked them as a waste of money. His campaign slogans, “America First” and “Make America Great Again,” echoed Pat Buchanan and Ronald Reagan. His social media graphics were crowdsourced on Twitter and Reddit by an aide who formerly managed Mr. Trump’s golf club in Westchester.
That this entire controversy and most of the fallout occurred within the first 24 hours of the RNC doesn’t bode well for the rest of the week in Cleveland. At least the Trump campaign knows that they won’t be putting Melania up on stage again for the rest of the week.
(Via The New York Times)