Melania Trump has been keeping a low profile since July when she was caught out lifting whole chunks of her speech at the Republican National Convention from Michelle Obama‘s equivalent speech eight years earlier.
It was embarrassing, to say the least, but the aspiring first lady has courageously returned to the podium in the final days of the election campaign to give a final pitch for her husband Donald Trump‘s presidency.
Unfortunately however, it didn’t go so great, at least in so far as she’s been accused of plagiarism. Again.
This time it was a rather moving line believed to be stolen from – wait for it – Trump’s second wife, Marla Maples.
The wife of the Republican presidential nominee made the apparent gaffe while speaking at a campaign event in Berwyn, Pennsylvania.
She was reflecting on her childhood admiration for the United States, where she moved in the 1990s after emigrating from her native Slovenia.
“It was a beautiful childhood. My parents were wonderful,” she said. “Of course we all knew about this incredible place called ‘America’.
“America meant, if you could dream it, you could become it,” which was a line one savvy journo realised he’d read somewhere before: In a 2011 interview with Marples, who was married to Donald Trump in the 90s.
That wasn’t the only part of the speech which raised eyebrows either, Melania also called for an end to cyber-bullying and vowed to be an “advocate for women and children” as first lady.
“As adults, many of us are able to handle mean words, even lies. Children and teenagers can be fragile,” she said.
“They are hurt when they are made fun of or made to feel less in looks or intelligence. This makes their life hard and forces them to hide and retreat.
“Our culture has gotten too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers.”
The comments were quickly lampooned on Twitter with people pointing out that were Melania serious about tackling online abuse, she’d probably have removed her husband from social media by now.
In fact, the only allusion she made to any of Trump’s multiple campaign controversies was one, throwaway line: “He certainly knows how to shake things up, doesn’t he?”
Top Comments
So her speech writer sucks for air, big freaking deal. She is not the one to blame if they don't give credit to a person for a line. And really the line about America, anyone could say that/come to that conclusion. Why are we so quick to point out the faults or perceived faults of others? At least she is standing by her husband and supporting him no matter his personality.
It does make me wonder if there is some journo out there, typing every line of her speeches into Google to see if anything's been used before. Let's be honest, it's not like they instantly recognised a line from one of Marla Maples' famous speeches!
yeah, actually, it does mean that the journalist recognised the line: there are journalists employed for any modern election to know their subjects inside and out, and any connections that can give life to a story. Hence, the knowledge of Marla's previous outings. Not at all surprising it was found, and a clear sign of the derision with which the Scary Clown treats his current wife, by only paying a really crap inexperienced assistant to do Melania's scripts.
For goodness sake! That's a well known William Ward quote. It has been around for decades.