Melania Trump plagiarism/rickroll megathread

[Likely Voter]

Vox isnt alone in noticing this...

NYT: Melania Trump’s Speech Bears Striking Similarities to Michelle Obama’s 2008 Address

LATimes: Melania Trump's RNC speech is strikingly similar to Michelle Obama's 2008 convention speech


MSNBC: Melania Trump speech strikingly similar to Michelle Obama 2008

Politico: Melania Trump's prime-time speech was strikingly similar to Michelle Obama's

There is more and it is growing. This is going to be a thing for sure.
 

[Likely Voter]

Weekly Standard: Watch Melania Trump Plagiarize Michelle Obama's Speech

CNN: Melania Trump's speech bears similarities to Michelle Obama'

WaPo: Melania Trump's speech appears to have cribbed from Michelle Obama's in 2008

USA Today: Section of Melania Trump speech raises plagiarism charge

Bloomberg: Melania Trump Echoes Michelle Obama in Convention Speech

CNBC: Did Melania Trump just rip off an old Michelle Obama speech?

The Hill: Melania Trump speech appears to plagiarize Michelle Obama

It is even moving into non political and MSM...

E!: Melania Trump Basically Copies a 2008 Michelle Obama Speech at the RNC

The Wrap:  Melania Trump Accused of Plagiarizing Michelle Obama's Convention Speech

UPROXX: Melania Trump's RNC Speech May Have Lifted Quite A Bit From Michelle Obama

It is even happening internationally...

Sydney Morning Herald: Melania Trump caught apparently plagiarising speech from Michelle Obama

The Guardian (UK): Republican convention: Melania Trump 'plagiarizes' Michelle Obama's 2008 speech – as it happened


Yeah, this is a thing. 

Trump has to decide and decide quickly. Will he admit that the speechrwriter did this or will he do what he usually does and claim it is all the media and there is nothing to see and everyone is lying etc.

[Likely Voter]

statement from Trump campaign...

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[Likely Voter]

I don't understand why they dont just bring out some no name low level staffer and fire him. While Trump doesn't like to admit mistakes they fired Roger Stone and Cory Lewendowsky. In fact Trump could make it part of his brand ("you're fired") to show he can be quick and decisive when there is a problem. They can get Melania out to Jimmy Fallon and turn it into a joke like have her read the gettysburg address or something. There are ways to fix this.  What they are doing isn't helping.

[Likely Voter]

Curious if Scully included the Rick Astley-ish section.   The NBC reporter waved around his final draft, wonder if that will be put online.

[Likely Voter]

As I suggested, they needed to put out a sacrificial lamb, but they should have done this over 24 hours ago. Now there is a whole day of Manafort and others denying there was any plagiarism.

This McIver thing gives another insight into how the Trump campaign operates. Two seasoned GOP writers wrote the speech and handed it in a month ago and instead of using that the Trump team went to an old friend and ghostwriter who worked with Melania to create a new speech, and apparently no one bothered to run that through usual checks. This is just another example of how this is a shoestring operation and one not always taking advice from the seasoned pros because they think since they won the nomination they are infallible.  

Another example of that is how they have done the speaker arrangements. Many have noted how each night they seem to put the headliner at the beginning of the primetime hour and not finish big, leaving half the audience leaving while Joni Ernst is talking for example. CNN reported yesterday that again old RNC hands wanted to do it the usual way (end the night with the big speech) but the Trump people rejected that.  

[Likely Voter]

Another example of that is how they have done the speaker arrangements. Many have noted how each night they seem to put the headliner at the beginning of the primetime hour and not finish big, leaving half the audience leaving while Joni Ernst is talking for example. CNN reported yesterday that again old RNC hands wanted to do it the usual way (end the night with the big speech) but the Trump people rejected that.

I think Trump is right on getting the most important headliner at the beginning of the primetime hour.  The 10PM hour, when the broadcast networks join the coverage, is the least-rated of primetime because many people go to bed.  Putting your most important speakers later runs the risk of having a smaller audience, especially if the networks go with boring talking heads instead of showing the previous speakers, or the previous speakers bomb.  It also runs the risk of running late and having the networks cut away from your speech if it's too boring.  Putting your most important speakers earlier ensures a greater audience, at least on the East Coast.  And, as Muon has been telling us, it runs the risk of the main speaker speaking to an empty floor, as delegates leave for parties and get togethers.

I get the other argument. I don't agree with it per se, but I do see it. My bigger point was that the Trump team are rejecting the advice of the people who have done this before over and over again. Maybe there are cases where that is a good thing, but in many cases it is a bad thing. This plagiarism thing is clearly one of the bad things.

Another example of the disjointed thing is how yesterday every surrogate was saying something different. Carson was saying how great it was that Melania and Obama can sound the same, Christie was talking about how most of the speech was original so that is fine, Spicer was talking My Little Pony and Manafort was rejecting the notion there was anything happening at all. A real campaign would have fired the person responsible and had unified talking points out to everyone by 9am yesterday.

This convention continues to expose how the pirate ship that is the Trump campaign is not ready for the general.

[Likely Voter]

Regarding the legality of Trump Org working on campaign, WaPo article covers it saying that as long as they account for it properly it's Ok...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/07/20/did-the-trump-campaign-violate-federal-law-by-using-a-trump-organization-speechwriter/

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[Likely Voter]

Color me naive but I actually believe McIver, that she inserted the Michelle Obama paragraphs. Whatever I may think of the Trumps, nobody can be that dumb.

Well she actually said it was Melania who provided her with the Obama passages, and I believe her.  Only a non-professional would do that. The mistake McIver admits to is not double checking to see what Melania gave her was word for word from Michelle Obama.

She is saying that Melania is the plagiarizer but it was her job as the ghostwriter to edit it so it was different enough.