Trump campaign rejects ‘absurd’ speech claims
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THE Trump campaign yesterday dismissed criticism that Melania Trump lifted two passages almost word-for-word from a speech first lady Michelle Obama delivered at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, calling the complaints “just absurd.”
“There’s no cribbing of Michelle Obama’s speech,” Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign manager, told CNN. “Certainly, there’s no feeling on her part that she did it,” he said. “What she did was use words that are common words.”
Mrs Trump’s star turn at the Republican National Convention on Monday night captivated a crowd that had rarely heard from her before. The passages in question focused on lessons Trump’s wife says she learned from her parents and the relevance of their lessons in her experience as a mother.
Manafort said she was aware of “how her speech was going to be scrutinized” and said any notion she picked up portions of Mrs Obama’s convention talk was “just absurd.” He also tried to blame Hillary Clinton.
“I mean, this is, once again, an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton, how she seeks out to demean her and take her down,” Manafort said. “It’s not going to work.”
The White House declined to comment on similarities between the two speeches.
The passages in question came near the beginning of a roughly 10-minute speech. Melania Trump’s address was otherwise distinct from the address that Michelle Obama gave when then-Senator Barack Obama was being nominated for president.
In Melania Trump’s speech in Cleveland, she 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.”
In Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech in Denver, she said: “Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: like, you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond, that you do what you say you’re going to do, that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don’t know them and even if you don’t agree with them.”
‘93% different’
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie tried to tamp down the controversy, saying “93 percent of the speech is completely different” from the speech Michelle Obama delivered. Christie told NBC’s “Today” show that the women “expressed some common thoughts.”
The prominent Trump supporter said no one would be talking about the issue after today.
Another passage with notable similarities in Melania Trump’s speech addresses her attempts to instill those values in her son.
“We need to pass those lessons onto the many generations to follow,” she said. “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.”
In the first lady’s 2008 speech, she said: “Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values and to pass them onto the next generation, because we want our children — and all children in this nation — to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for them.”
Trump’s campaign initially responded that Melania Trump’s “immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech.” Trump spokesman Jason Miller said: “In writing her beautiful speech, Melania’s team of writers took notes on her life’s inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking.”
In an interview with NBC News taped ahead of her convention appearance and posted online early yesterday, Melania Trump said of her speech: “I wrote it.” She added she had “a little help.”
On the whole, she presented a softer and gentler candidate. She said: “He is tough when he has to be, but he is also kind and fair and caring. This kindness is not always noted, but it is there for all to see. That is one reason I fell in love with him to begin with.”
The Slovenian-born former model, 24 years her husband’s junior, spoke after an uncharacteristically brief introduction from her husband, who kissed her and called her “my wife, an amazing mother, an incredible woman.”
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