Melania Trump made quite an impression at the Republican National Convention Monday night.
However, her passionate speech in support of her husband, presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, quickly sparked outrage across social media since segments of the oration were found to strongly resemble words uttered by Michelle Obama eight years ago at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
“Holy s—. They’re nearly identical. Someone is seriously fired,” Jon Favreau, President Obama’s former director of speechwriting, wrote on Twitter.
His reaction came after L.A.-based journalist Jarrett Hill sent a tweet alleging that Melania Trump plagiarized whole chunks of the current first lady’s 2008 speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
CORRECTION: Melania stole a whole graph from Michelle's speech. #GOPConvention
WATCH: https://t.co/8BCOwXAHSy pic.twitter.com/zudpDznGng— jarrett, chill 🫶🏽✨🍉 (@jarretthill) July 19, 2016
In her speech in Cleveland, the former model Melania Trump said, “From a young age, my parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise, that you treat people with respect. They taught and showed me values and morals in their daily life. That is a lesson that I continue to pass along to our son. And we need to pass those lessons on to the many generations to follow because we want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.”
See video of Michelle Obama saying virtually the same lines — and the outraged responses over Melania’s version below.
https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/755251813989904384
https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/755250105330966530
https://twitter.com/NellSco/status/755251589531656192
https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/755254630804631552
AHHHH IT'S LITERALLY A PLAGIARIZED PASSAGE ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF HARD WORK
— Matt Pearce 🦅🇺🇸 (@mattdpearce) July 19, 2016
https://twitter.com/JoyAnnReid/status/755257268791341056
I taught speech for ten years. Even my worst students would not have done this: https://t.co/QhPPC8ENUA pic.twitter.com/co5VveF5cq
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) July 19, 2016
Come to think of it, it did seem weird when Melania talked about growing up black in Chicago.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 19, 2016
I thought Melania only took other people's husbands.
— L O L G O P (@LOLGOP) July 19, 2016
Bringing in Obama team to write major part of Melania's speech actually a significant moment of outreach https://t.co/Ui8OjEEGIm
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) July 19, 2016
https://twitter.com/poniewozik/status/755255199502065664