It’s the eve of the Republican National Convention. It’s an important event for any presidential candidate and an event that defines the vision for the Republican Party.
It comes once every four or eight years depending on the political climate and the will of the people. Like a blue moon, it’s been eight years since the last convention, where former presidential candidate Mitt Romney was selected and endorsed. His campaign ultimately falling short against the Democrats and Obama’s empty promises. After a second go at four years, the stakes seemed higher than ever. Amidst this backdrop the official candidacy for the Republican nominee was to be officially selected. A nominee was seen as an unexpected voice but one millions of Americans have been clamoring for. Especially since the disastrous wake induced by the Obama administration’s slow wave of underhanded government.
Trump’s line-up of star-studded speakers did not disappoint. Notable speakers included fox TV personality Laura Ingraham, former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani, as well as a slew of former political contenders like Chris Christie and Ben Carson.
Most notable and contested of all was Trump’s Wife, Melania, noted as one of the convention’s headliners.
Credit: Getty Images
It was seen as a beautifully-delivered, articulate, and inspiring speech. Melania Trump gave a speech with favorable agreement from listening attendees. However, it was instantly shot down and labelled by media outlets as a plagiarized version of Michelle Obama’s speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
How could this have happened, many news outlets seemed to question. They first blamed Trump’s off the cuff politics for putting his wife in a terrible position.Some blamed her and Donald for remaining silent. There was no ebb in the plagiarizing media drama that unfolded following the first night of the convention.
Although there is no doubt that there are distinct similarities between the two speeches, is Melania Trump guilty of plagiarism?
The short answer is no. Melania’s speech was written by a speech writer, an individual employed to create speeches for people that wish to define their ideas in a way that perhaps they aren’t as eloquently able to devise themselves. Michelle Obama’s speech wasn’t even Michelle Obama’s. Her speeches are written for her by Sarah Hurwitz, a speech writer known as the ‘voice’ of Michelle Obama.
And while there are distinct similarities between the two, no legitimate listener can deny the heartfelt power which gave voice to ideals the two women might share in common. In the political arena, where no one reads from their own speeches (with the exception of Donald Trump it must be noted); and someone else’s words become the outward voice of political figures who mean to gain political points as heartfelt responses, who plagiarized who and for what purpose?
When a speech was needed for Trump’s wife to express her newly formed political voice, was the wrong person selected?
In any case, in America, when you hire someone to do a job, be it a speech writer or an accountant who does your taxes, you expect the person to perform their task with integrity.
It seems very unlikely that a speech be rendered with such similar accuracy to another person’s speech without the intention to copy the speech. In all intents and purposes could Mrs. Trump’s speech be a subvert or rogue attempt to humiliate the presidential hopeful’s wife? To depict her as incompetent and a fraud? In the case against Melania Trump, the guilty party can only be the speech writer. Whether his work was the deliberate attack of desperate and covert Democratic Party tactics or a rogue individual acting through his own volition we might not know. What we do know is that someone seems to have played a nasty joke on Mrs. Donald Trump. And in the high stakes of the political game, the possibility of the attempt coming from the other side is not only very likely; it’s also consistent with Democratic dirty politics, and the stench of Crooked Hillary.
In any case, people sympathized with the woman who was unaware of the political joke made at her expense.
Whomever attempted to gain political points by humiliating Mrs. Trump missed the fact that Melania Trump is not a political figure. However, Michelle Obama is. For Melania to have a speech writer seems less disingenuous than Michelle Obama’s carefully crafted tear jerkers.
Melania gave a powerful, evocative rendition of Sarah Hurwitz’ carefully crafted words. Melania speaking on the first night was an unprecedented move. However, supporters welcomed it because they wanted to hear from the woman behind the man. And perhaps a move that we’d come to expect from Trump and his off the cuff attitude towards politics.
We should impeach Obama. This is a step too far; only by voting for Trump can we stop the corruption.
