--- title: Melania Trump's Alleged Plagiarism Inspires Memes and Humor description: Melania Trump faced backlash Tuesday amid accusations that her convention speech borrowed from the speech Michelle Obama gave in 2008 canonical: https://time.com/4412372/melania-trump-speech-criticism-michelle-obama/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-19T12:28:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:55.582Z article:section: Politics og:title: Melania Trump Faces Criticism Over Michelle Obama Speech Similarities og:description: Donald Trump's campaign defended her: "These were common words and values" og:url: https://time.com/4412372/melania-trump-speech-criticism-michelle-obama/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0bb4584f7f50bf3f/69889c75ab6d775bea6aa7ef/melania-trump-speech-reaction.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4112 og:image:height: 2313 og:image:alt: Republican National Convention: Day One og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Melania Trump Faces Criticism Over Michelle Obama Speech Similarities twitter:description: Donald Trump's campaign defended her: "These were common words and values" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0bb4584f7f50bf3f/69889c75ab6d775bea6aa7ef/melania-trump-speech-reaction.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Melania Trump's Alleged Plagiarism Inspires Memes and Humor > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jul 19, 2016 12:28 PM UTC  Melania Trump, wife of Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, waves to the crowd after delivering a speech on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on July 18, 2016. Melania Trump, wife of Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, waves to the crowd after delivering a speech on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on July 18, 2016. Alex Wong—Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jul 19, 2016 12:28 PM UTC [Melania Trump](http://time.com/4412083/republican-convention-melania-trump/) faced backlash Tuesday morning amid accusations that [her Monday night speech](http://time.com/4412009/republican-convention-melania-trump-compassion/) at the Republican National Convention [borrowed heavily](http://time.com/4412175/republican-convention-melania-trump-michelle-obama/) from the speech First Lady Michelle Obama gave eight years ago. Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s campaign manager, defended Melania Trump on Tuesday, saying her speech consisted of “common words and values.” “There’s no cribbing of Michelle Obama’s speech. These were common words and values — that she cares about her family, things like that,” Manafort said in an interview with CNN. “I mean, she was speaking in front of 35 million people last night. She knew that. To think that she would be cribbing Michelle Obama’s words is crazy.” He blamed the widely critical reaction to the speech on presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. “This is once again an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton, how she seeks out to demean her and take her down,” he said. “It’s not going to work.” Others criticized Melania Trump on social media, with many using the hashtag #FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes to mockingly attribute the famous words of others to the prospective First Lady. > [](https://twitter.com/iJesseWilliams/status/755262305806327808) > [](https://twitter.com/iJesseWilliams/status/755263533017731072) > [](https://twitter.com/hitRECordJoe/status/755319826743033859) > [](https://twitter.com/phrozenthunda/status/755350990992310272) > [](https://twitter.com/JackeeHarry/status/755292560122322944) > [](https://twitter.com/clayaiken/status/755373676309118976) > [](https://twitter.com/GovHowardDean/status/755357790412087296) > [](https://twitter.com/EWErickson/status/755264266349924352) > [](https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/755275446082740225) > [](https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/755255976857473024) > [](https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/755270989898878976) > [](https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/755272160348770304) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4412372/melania-trump-speech-criticism-michelle-obama/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4412372/melania-trump-speech-criticism-michelle-obama/"},"headline":"Melania Trump's Alleged Plagiarism Inspires Memes and Humor","datePublished":"2016-07-19T12:28:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:55.582Z","description":"Donald Trump's campaign defended her: \"These were common words and values\"","url":"https://time.com/4412372/melania-trump-speech-criticism-michelle-obama/","keywords":["Republican National Convention","2016 Election","Donald Trump","Melania Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0bb4584f7f50bf3f/69889c75ab6d775bea6aa7ef/melania-trump-speech-reaction.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0bb4584f7f50bf3f/69889c75ab6d775bea6aa7ef/melania-trump-speech-reaction.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican National Convention: Day One","caption":"Melania Trump, wife of Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, waves to the crowd after delivering a speech on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on July 18, 2016.","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/republican-national-convention/","name":"Republican National Convention"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4412372/melania-trump-speech-criticism-michelle-obama/","name":"Melania Trump's Alleged Plagiarism Inspires Memes and Humor"}}]}] ```