Cleveland, OH — Melania Trump’s RNC speech, which was partially plagiarized from a Michelle Obama speech, has become such a popular subject that #FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes has turned into a trending topic on Facebook and Twitter.
As you can see in the video below, several segments of Melania Trump’s speech were lifted directly from Michelle Obama’s 2008 DNC speech, but there’s one detail everyone is missing about this whole debacle.
The missing detail is summarized perfectly—and ironically—by an official statement from Melania Trump’s Facebook page following the fallout:
“[S]ome instances” of the speech, the statement confesses, “included fragments that reflected her own thinking.”
Starting to see the problem yet? Melania Trump didn’t plagiarize Michelle Obama; Melania’s speech writers copied Michelle’s speech writers.
“So what?” you may ask. Most politicians and public figures, including Trump, Hillary, and Obama, have speech writers. But the problem is more profound than simply having speech writers, and Melania’s statement inadvertently exposes the point I’m trying to make: Politicians have become actors instead of thinkers.
They don’t write their own speeches. Someone else does—and they simply read the words from a teleprompter. Much in the same way TV “journalists” simply read the scripts they are given, politicians are not speaking their minds. They are speaking words written by advisors, focus groups, and speechwriters who think they know what the public wants to hear. On some occasions, the speeches may contain “fragments” of the person’s actual thoughts. On other occasions, they may contain none.
Hell, lawmakers don’t even make laws anymore—lobbyists do.
We no longer have politicians in America who are willing to tell people the harsh truths they don’t want to hear. The rhetoric and narratives communicated to the American people are cooked up by unelected bureaucrats in backrooms to make us feel better about the increasingly unpopular talking heads that 70 percent of Americans feel are steering the country in the wrong direction.It’s a big scripted show, and it sure is entertaining. Maybe that’s why Donald Trump’s entrance to the RNC last night had a striking similarity to the ones seen in professional wrestling
#1: Vicomte13 To: Deckard (#0)
Yes. But Melania Trump is not a politician. She is not running for elective office. She certainly didn't know she was repeating Michelle's words. She read what she was given, and probably believed what she was saying too.
Vicomte13 posted on 2016-07-19 18:44:28 Reply Private Reply
#2: paraclete To: Deckard (#0)
What we have here is a situation where any opportunity for criticism is taken but one thing for sure I bet there was a speech writer who heard the words YOU'R FIRED!
paraclete posted on 2016-07-19 19:41:43 Reply Private Reply
#3: Pinguinite To: Deckard (#0)
But one refreshing thing Trump is that when you hear him speak in interviews and at rallies, it's not a teleprompted speech or sound bites. He says exactly what he is thinking, which has drawn both the ire of the media and political establishment but also the respect of average Americans. He speaks well, genuinely and intelligently in most venues.
I really don't care about Melania's qualifications to be first lady, and whatever her flaws, they pale in comparison to Bill Clinton as first Gentleman (ack!). Trump is the one who would be president and though he has flaws, I suspect he will be excellent for cleaning out the crud in DC.
Pinguinite posted on 2016-07-19 19:44:32 Reply Private Reply
#4: tomder55 To: Deckard (#0)
In the grand scheme of things, this is a minor story. And if the Trump campaign were not an extension of the personality of Melania’s egotistical husband who is never a big enough man to admit a mistake, the damage might have been mitigated. A quick admission of error might have lessened the sting. But as is characteristic of Trump, his handlers doubled down on their denials and sought to use the story as an excuse to bash Hillary Clinton while arguing that interest in the similarities is a sign of media bias.
But the issue here isn’t whether Melania Trump is as guilty of plagiarism as Joe Biden. It’s the unprofessional nature of a Trump campaign that is still not ready for prime time. Letting his wife onto the podium with a speech that was either cribbed in part from a Michelle Obama effort—after she had said earlier in the day to NBC’s Matt Lauer that she had written it herself—or without the sort of supervision that would have ensured something like this couldn’t happen (like running it through a computer program that looks for plagiarism) reflects badly on everyone in the campaign and gives us a hint of the sort of mistakes a Trump White House might make.
Of course, Trump fans will say they don’t care just as they haven’t cared about every other gaffe made by the candidate. But the problem here is that Trump is no longer playing to a primary electorate in which his followers can dominate but to a general election audience. Indeed, that was the whole point of trying to create a special Melania moment in which those not already besotted with Trump’s frat boy manners could get a glimpse of a more attractive side of him.
So while Melania’s plagiarism isn’t a reason to vote for Hillary Clinton, it was an epic fail that indicates Trump’s team still believe they don’t have to care about making sloppy mistakes. That bodes ill for the rest of the campaign, and is one more reason for Republicans to lament having handed over their party to Trump and his toadies.
tomder55 posted on 2016-07-19 20:45:37 Reply Private Reply
#5: tomder55 To: paraclete (#2)
That would be the case in a normal campaign .But Trump never admits to mistakes.
tomder55 posted on 2016-07-19 20:47:18 Reply Private Reply
#6: ConservingFreedom To: tomder55 (#4)
Bingo.
ConservingFreedom posted on 2016-07-19 20:54:30 Reply Private Reply
#7: paraclete To: ConservingFreedom (#6)
paraclete posted on 2016-07-19 23:38:05 Reply Private Reply
#8: TrappedInMd To: Deckard (#0)
TrappedInMd posted on 2016-07-20 09:10:13 Reply Private Reply
#9: ConservingFreedom To: paraclete (#7)
In 2020 and beyond we should learn the lesson of choosing showmanship over substance.
ConservingFreedom posted on 2016-07-20 12:03:08 Reply Private Reply
#10: Hondo68 To: ConservingFreedom (#9)
Hondo68 posted on 2016-07-20 12:14:05 Reply Private Reply
#11: paraclete To: ConservingFreedom (#9)
Don't wait four years you have had a clear demonstration of it over past months and the last week. What is needed now is P.T. Barnam to show you the egress
paraclete posted on 2016-07-20 21:35:39 Reply Private Reply
#12: A K A Stone To: ConservingFreedom (#9)
A K A Stone posted on 2016-07-20 21:39:42 Reply Private Reply
#13: buckeroo To: A K A Stone, ConservingFreedom (#12)
buckeroo posted on 2016-07-20 22:16:00 Reply Private Reply
#14: ConservingFreedom To: paraclete (#11)
What should I be doing today?
ConservingFreedom posted on 2016-07-21 11:21:08 Reply Private Reply
#15: paraclete To: ConservingFreedom (#14)
paraclete posted on 2016-07-21 22:41:19 Reply Private Reply
#16: BorisY To: A K A Stone (#12)
oh
really
love
boris
BorisY posted on 2016-07-21 23:48:35 Reply Private Reply
#17: ConservingFreedom To: BorisY (#16)
No, not really.
ConservingFreedom posted on 2016-07-26 15:19:10 Reply Private Reply