Aspiring First Lady Melania Trump earned high praise for her Republican Convention speech Monday night. It was optimistic, compassionate and apparently heartfelt.
Some of the words had also been spoken before by current First Lady Michelle Obama. Shortly after the speech, observers on Twitter noticed that a passage Trump read about her upbringing borrowed heavily from the structure and phrasing used by Michelle Obama in her 2008 convention speech.
“They’re nearly identical,” wrote former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau, in response. “Somebody is seriously fired.”
In 2008, Michelle Obama delivered these words:
Here is Melania Trump in 2016:
Later Monday night, the Trump campaign’s senior communications advisor, Jason Miller, released a statement on Melania’s convention speech, saying: “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. Melania’s immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech, which made it such a success.”
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