Melania Trump, Donald Trump’s third and current wife, gave an impassioned speech at the Republican Convention and stole the show – until it was discovered that large parts of the speech were plagiarised from Michelle Obama’s speech at the 2008 Democratic convention. Ironically, Mrs Trump chose to take the first lady’s words about honesty, integrity and values and pass them off as her own. The Donald Trump campaign on Tuesday denied these allegations, calling the accusation “just really absurd.”
Possibly the “poor” lady became a victim to a speech writer gone rogue, or she is so impressed by Michelle Obama that she wants to follow in her exact footsteps, and that means repeating everything appropriate she’s ever said during her time at the White House. Unfortunately for her, Mrs Trump was trying to reinforce the impression by claiming, falsely, to have written the speech herself. She now looks like a phoney, which makes Mr Trump look like a phoney too – the least of his long list of shocking attributes.
Will Melania Trump’s blunder be a big blow to the Trump Presidency campaign? Probably not, it has survived much worse. It is still more than just embarrassing as it points to the incompetence of Mr Trump’s campaign effort, which is not lagging far behind that of Mrs Clinton in finance and organisation by any measure. Yet, his supporters seem not a bit perturbed. The Trumps will turn this gaff into profit, getting for themselves more airtime. Either way, word to the wise (the deaf and blind in this case) is that maybe the Trumps could spend a good buck on a more original and innovative speechwriter. While we get that cheap tricks, money and a running tongue has got Donald Trump this far, the total absence of honesty, hard work and respect for audiences and citizens harbingers a dark American future.