Per usual, the speeches at the political parties’ national conventions are more entertaining than motivating.
Donald Trump’s Slovene immigrant wife, Melania Trump took the stage at the Republican National Convention’s opening night as the main speaker. Her speech on family values, respect, and work ethic were so inspiring, so uplifting, and so….. familiar.
Journalist Jarrett Hill was one of the first to notice the comparison. He’s a long time fan of the Obamas and when he heard Melania’s speech, he noticed she repeated a line from Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech at the Democratic National Convention:
“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”, said Michelle Obama.
When Hill noticed Melania started off her speech with the same sentiments, he googled Michelle’s speech and compared the two. Hill then posted the comparisons and got over 16,000 retweets. Her speech has since went viral and became the subject of hundreds of memes:
Though Melania claims she barely had help with writing her speech, Deputy Convention Manager, Rick Gates has been named as the responsible party who oversaw the writing of Melania’s speech by their team of writers. While Gates denies being at fault, Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort blames Democratic forerunner, Hillary Clinton.
Manafort told CNN the story of Melania plagiarizing Michelle Obama’s speech would’ve never went viral if Clinton’s campaign hadn’t fanned the flames. Huh?!
“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.”
Clinton’s Campaign Communications Director, Jennifer Palmieri denied Manafort’s allegations:
Manafort: “There’s a political tint to this whole issue… the Clinton camp was the first to get it out there.”
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) July 19, 2016
Nice try, not true. @PaulManafort, blaming Hillary Clinton isn’t the answer for ever Trump campaign problem. https://t.co/RvZ5GKeDYd
— Jennifer Palmieri (@jmpalmieri) July 19, 2016
This little hiccup didn’t hurt Donald Trump’s campaign, as he was named the Republican party’s official presidential nominee at tonight’s GOP Convention:
Such a great honor to be the Republican Nominee for President of the United States. I will work hard and never let you down! AMERICA FIRST!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2016