Did Melania Trump plagiarize Michelle Obama in her RNC speech last night?

The Republican National Convention started yesterday in Cleveland. It descended into chaos in the first hours, as the “Never Trump” Republicans tried to force a Roll Call vote, something, anything to disrupt the ongoing chaotic mess of having Trump as a major party candidate. When the RNC moved into prime time, there was a bit more organization, although the speeches didn’t get any better. I mean, Scott Baio got a prime time speaking slot. I’m not joking. So, by the time 10 pm rolled around on the East Coast, I was ready for bed. I didn’t stay up to watch Melania Trump’s potential-First-Lady speech. Which is a shame, because that’s all people are talking about today.

First let me say that Melania Trump has not been very active in her husband’s campaign. She’s made a handful of trips outside of New York to support Trump, but mostly the excuse used is that she’s a full-time mother and she’s looking after their son Barron. Melania has given interviews to support her husband, but she’s made very few speeches on behalf of his campaign. And now we sort of know why. You see, Melania plagiarized a chunk of her RNC speech. She plagiarized it from Michelle Obama’s 2008 DNC speech. Which makes it especially funny that Republicans were like “Melania is amazing, we love what she said!” Did they like it when Michelle Obama said it first?

Here’s the full speech, with an intro by Donald Trump. “We Are the Champions”?? It would have been great if Trump had played “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” like he did for his VP announcement.

And here are some of the plagiarized passages:

Republican operative and former McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt went OFF last night on MSNBC, saying that Melania could have been a really compelling surrogate for Trump, but that the plagiarized passages did a complete disservice to her and to the campaign. Schmidt blamed Donald Trump’s campaign and the campaign speechwriters. This was my first instinct too – how could professional speechwriters let this happen? Well, funny story. At first, Melania and campaign claimed that Melania wrote the speech herself. Then they released this statement:

Melania also told the Today Show BEFORE the speech that she wrote it herself, “with as little help as possible.” So Melania is either being thrown under the bus or no one in the campaign knew that Melania was watching Michelle Obama’s old speeches, thinking “Oh, I need to say that.” And now #FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes is trending on Twitter. Classic.

Photos courtesy of Getty.

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316 Responses to “Did Melania Trump plagiarize Michelle Obama in her RNC speech last night?”

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  1. lilacflowers says:

    Michelle Obama’s love for her country shone through Melania’s speech loud and clear.

    Brian May has asked the Trump campaign, in no uncertain terms, to stop playing “We are the Champions” at campaign events.

    #Conventionsowhite

    • Mrs. Welen-Melon says:

      Her dress is not American made or designed. You can’t make this stuff up.

      • Neelyo says:

        It’s hideous too. I hate those wrist poofs, it makes me think of leg of lamb or something.

      • Snappyfish says:

        I was coming here to say just that. Should have been an American Designer. Elvis stole from black artists, Eminem said in Without me he did the same…so too, it seems, Melania did as well….eagerly awaiting Trump’s “I have a dream” speech Thursday night

      • catherine says:

        The dress is not flattering on her 10 year old “baby bump” POOCH

      • joan says:

        The fact IS, she claimed she wrote it. Which is a lie.

        That’s on top of plagiarizing it.

        AND, she lied about having a college degree; only went 1 yr at most.

        Obamas are stayin classy.

        What will happen, if you want to know, is Trump will keep making unforced errors and embarrassing himself and the GOP.

        He’ll get fed up from constant humiliation and protests, and he’ll latch on to some excuse to quite after the convention but before the election.

        He’ll claim he was mistreated. If he’s smart he’ll “run” as an Independent to give the illusion he cares and not lose face.

        If he does that he might be able to hold a shred of what passes for dignity w/him.

        If he just quits he’ll be shocked how much he’s loathed.

      • iheartgossip says:

        It looked like a wedding dress for a 50+ woman getting married for the third time.

      • Kiliki says:

        Snappyfish: Love you for saying all that. ALL THAT.

      • Cookiejar says:

        That’s the least of her faults. Being an uninspiring plagiarist is far greater. A lot more is expected from FLOTUS than being arm-candy. She won’t deliver.

    • Esmom says:

      LMAO.

      Did Trump really plagiarize Obama’s tweet?

      • Aussie girl says:

        Those #famousmeldinatrumpquotes tweets 😂😂

      • Esmom says:

        I know! Even funnier than Pippatips.

      • Tate says:

        I was wondering the same thing. Is that Trump tweet for real?

        I went to bed before Michelle’s errrr….. Melania’s speech. This is unreal!! Enjoying my coffe time this morning. 😂😂

      • MsGoblin says:

        This makes my tacky little heart SO glad!

        Before the speech, Melania was boasting that she wrote it with very little help. Now, after the plagiarism was discovered, she’s backing away and inferring that others wrote it.

        This just points-up the fact that these two are hucksters and con (wo)men.

      • Lama Bean says:

        The identical tweets are a hoax.

        But Jesse Williams starting that hashtag is THE best. I laughed for a solid 2 hours last night.

      • Esmom says:

        Lama Bean, I kinda thought so but wasn’t sure. What isn’t a hoax is how much has been lifted from Michelle Obama’s speech. I just a heard an audio “overlay” that someone at NPR made. Unreal.

      • annaloo. says:

        I hope the company that is suing Ivanka for ripping off their shoe designs throws one of those said shoes at her during her speech.

    • Jensmom says:

      I wondered if any of Queen knew they were using that. As said last night (forget if it was Trevor Noah or Stephen Colbert) {paraphrasing} Nothing represents the republican party like a bisexual singer….. Dr. May is such a gentleman, but I hope he sues the pants off them!

      • doofus says:

        May said, and I quote, that permission was neither asked nor received. if they don’t stop using it with a C&D, he’ll sue.

        WHEN will the GOP learn that YOU HAVE TO ASK FIRST. this sure ain’t the first time it’s happened.

      • Nancy says:

        If your political party spends decades treating gay people like second-class citizens guess what? You don’t get to use Freddie Mercury’s music at your convention was written over a pic of Freddie on Adam Lambert’s twitter page. Brian May always the gentlemen said he had no recollection of anyone asking permission to use their music, and that their music was their own dreams, not that of politics. Hence, Donald has to go to Plan B.

      • really says:

        It was Colbert- he is live all this week & next for the conventions. He also did a really funny bit with Jon Stewart and resurrected his old character to do a bit on “trumpiness” ala his original invention- “truthiness”- FABULOUS.
        Check out @colbertlateshow’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/colbertlateshow/status/755250999099555840?s=09
        BTW, it seems that Melania didn’t go to college after all and has been lying about that for decades.

      • Christin says:

        You mean she isn’t a brilliant, great architectural graduate after all?

    • Belle Epoch says:

      UPDATE: it’s all Hillary’s fault!

      “This is once again an example of when a women threatens Hillary Clinton, how she seeks out to demean her and take her down. It’s not going to work.”

      Uh huh.

      • lucy2 says:

        WTF? That doesn’t even make sense!

      • I Choose Me says:

        Wow. I mean just wow. They might have just as well said ‘squirrel.’

      • Tate says:

        Did Hillary even comment on the plagiarism?

      • Tiffany :) says:

        Yes, love how he blames the woman for his OWN campaign’s mistakes!

        I can’t decide if he just hired the cheapest, most incompetent speech writers or if someone tried to sabotage him.

      • naomipaige says:

        I don’t understand how they’re trying to spin this off on Hillary. WTF is wrong with them. Just shows their true colors.

    • mia girl says:

      UPDATE #2: Her personal bio apparently says she graduated college with a degree in architecture… looks like, maybe not so much:

      “Melania Trump’s professional biography says the wife of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump began modeling at age 16, but she only began working full-time after obtaining a degree. She graduated “in design and architecture at University in Slovenia,” according to the bio as of Monday night…

      It’s a good story, but it doesn’t appear to be true.
      Melania Trump never earned a university degree in architecture ― she dropped out of college after her freshman year, according to her biographers. Still, she claims to have a degree from “university in Slovenia”

      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/melania-trump-college-claims_us_578dd95ce4b0c53d5cfac0dc?section=

      • holly hobby says:

        She’s dumb as a box of rocks. Anyone ever watch the Apprentice? She was on a handful of times. Lady cannot string sentences together. As for the Trumpettes working the campaign, well when you hire all the apprentice contestants, how successful can you be? I heard Omarosa was hired to do African American outreach – yeah still laughing over that.

    • Mary Mary says:

      Didn’t we all hear at the RNC Michelle Obama’s 2008 empowering speech last night as it poured from the mouth of Melania Trump?

      That was a great speech First Lady Michelle.
      Glad Michelle Obama is receiving acknowledgement and credit for the speech that Melania memorized and delivered to the Republican Convention last night 🙂

      Thank you Melania Trump thank you memorizing parts of Michelle Obama’s speech again and reminding us how great a speech Michelle Obama delivered in 2008. :))

      • Carmen says:

        Melania Trump just released a statement: “Not only are these accusations of plagiarism hurtful to me, they are also hurtful to my children Sasha and Malia.”

      • Justjj says:

        ^LoL! 😂I wish I could say I couldn’t believe it this morning when I listened to NPR but wow, this is so unsurprising. And yes, who is not terrified of Donald Trump? The man came out in a cloud of fog with “We Are The Champions” playing, didn’t get permission, despite being asked not to play it, and his wife is looking like an understudy for Lamb Chop’s Playalong in a crappy dress, blatantly ripping off the speech of the current First Lady. I just can’t with these people. When I see Trump bumper stickers, I get enraged. I love how the producers of the movie ‘Idiocracy’ said they didn’t know they were making a documentary in response to Donald Trump’s campaign, I mean, apparently you can make this stuff up 10+ years before it happens. I don’t understand how anyone could not vote for Clinton.

      • Chanteloup says:

        Hahahaha Carmen! That made me laugh!

  2. Nev says:

    Another one. Have a seat.

  3. Onerous says:

    Does anyone else (ok – everyone else) get the feeling that there’s some internal sabotage happening in the Trump campaign? Some of this stuff you couldn’t make up. Like playing You Can’t Always Get What You Want – I mean… it’s pitch perfect for a farce.

    • Pinky says:

      I feel it. This cannot be for real, right?!?

      –TheRealPinky

      • Cynthia says:

        That is exactly what I said. At this level, for that sort of mistake to happen. Is so unreal to me. Word for word.

    • Esmom says:

      I know, it really does seem like someone is punking and/or being punked.

    • Myrna says:

      I just said this to my husband!
      It’s got yo be internal sabotage, right?
      How else to explain it?

      • Melly says:

        Paul Manafort blamed Hillary Clinton for this. He said Hillary is jealous of Melania. You can’t make this stuff up.

    • nicole says:

      I agree. The song and then not just plagiarizing a speech, but plagiarizing Michelle Obama’s speech from basically the same event and the same circumstances. People should be fired over that.

    • Granger says:

      The way I see it, there’s one of two things happening here. One, Melania is even more disengaged than I thought and truly doesn’t care whether or not her husband wins. Or two, Melania is such a bitch to the campaign team that they truly don’t care about HER anymore, and are paying her back by making her look awful. Either way, this can’t end soon enough.

      • the_blonde_one says:

        I am absolutely convinced that a: Trump never intended to get this far, he was running as a joke and b: he couldn’t figure out a way to bow out gracefully once he realized that people were dumb enough to support him and c: HE is behind the absolute shit-show that happened last night so that he can…blame a woman.

      • sherry says:

        @the_blone_one – My husband thinks Trump never thought he’d actually get this far. He said Trump’s like our late German Shepherd who rushed out our door one morning and chased down the UPS truck in front of our house. The truck stopped and she sat down in front of it, so proud of herself, but having absolutely no idea what to do with her “catch.”

        I don’t want Hillary and I am terrified of Donald Trump. Since I’m in Tennessee, my vote’s not going to count that much anyway. The state will go for Trump regardless of my Libertarian vote.

      • The Eternal Side-Eye says:

        @sherry

        That is the cutest story!

      • mee says:

        @the blonde one – that is really the only explanation. i think trump doesn’t want it. he couldn’t care less about being a Pres. he couldn’t hire models, run his crappy businesses, and discriminate freely as POTUS. and then going to cabinet meetings or meeting with foreign leaders, where there aren’t enough pretty young things for him to ogle? how would he survive? all of this is so haphazard and he’s doing his best not to win it.

    • EM says:

      I actually don’t think it’s sabotage but rather Trump privilege. I honestly believe that he thinks he can say and do anything he wants without there being repercussions. If people complain F’ them and add them to the list.

      The supporters who have been vocal this morning think that she was poised, delivered a great speech and was much better than Michelle Obama. Oh yea, a lot of whining about the media distorting this. So again substance is not important.

      • LadyMTL says:

        EM, I totally agree. I think this is just another example of Trump and his team thinking “hey, we can do anything we want and still come out smelling like roses!” After all, this is the same guy who’s said some incredibly racist and misogynistic things and he does still have supporters!

        What really gets me is that his supporters are actually trying to spin this to make it seem like it’s no big deal. One commenter on another site actually said something like ‘Does Michelle Obama own those words now? Melania can’t say something similar?’…like he basically didn’t know the definition of the word plagiarism. SMDH.

      • ohdear says:

        His ghost writer said as much….“Lying is second nature to him,” Mr. Schwartz told The New Yorker. “More than anyone else I have ever met, Trump has the ability to convince himself that whatever he is saying at any given moment is true, or sort of true, or at least ought to be true.” (from the NYT article with Schwartz: ‘I feel a deep sense of remorse”)

      • doofus says:

        ohdear, Drumpf is what I’d def call a pathological liar. as in, he lies when he doesn’t even “need” to.

        like him saying that he was responsible for having the convention in Ohio. even though the location was decided well before he even entered the race. it’s more bluster to try to convince people how powerful he is.

      • Trashaddict says:

        Don’t make the mistake of thinking he’s just having a laugh at our expense. Because it will be at OUR expense. I find nothing funny about this entitled, regressive, sociopathic menace. This man should not have his hand anywhere near the launch button. Melania’s an easy target, I’m angry at the media for not doing the footwork to knock down Trump’s legend-in-his-own-mind status.
        The way this man acts, there have to be a million inconsistencies to be found.

    • yolo112 says:

      I didn’t watch it last night but it’s everywhere this morning and I keep thinking…scratching my head… was it purposely done??? Are the Trumps clowning Obama and Michelle? Surely this cannot be a coincidence… are they smart enough to do that?? Jeez…

      • La Ti Da says:

        I’d guess they are having trouble getting any truly top-tier campaign staff to sign onto this sh*t show. So the people they do hire have little experience and/or talent. Its hard enough to work with clients who won’t listen when you have years of experience (see McCain/Palin ’08) and they can only rework what they are given (see “Poor Jason”).

        I can see her speech being reviewed by Ivanka or some personal assistant who wouldn’t even think to check for plagiarism because….. who the Hell doesn’t know not to do that for a huge nationally-televised event!

    • lucy2 says:

      I’ve been wondering that too. Is it some pissed off campaign person trolling them? Giving her Michelle’s speech would be the ultimate.
      I love that she’s stuck now – she’s either a plagiarist if she wrote it herself, or a liar who takes credit for the work of others if someone else wrote it for her.

    • Bread and Circuses says:

      I can see that, but at the same time, large amounts of Trump University’s textbooks were plagiarized. Trump has stolen people’s words (and money) before.

    • Adele Dazeem says:

      I’m with you onerous. It’s got my smutty senses tingling. And Scott Baio, keynote speaker. Not to mention the Trump Pence sexual act logo. I would seriously be laughing my ass off if I weren’t terrified of what this may be leading to.

      • Katie says:

        Hillary is the TRULY scary one. She’s had her finger on that button and her eye on Willies seat behind that desk since HE was campaigning. Her LUST for power is bloodcurdingly frightening!

      • doofus says:

        um…”lust for power”? how do you refer to the desire of men to reach the highest office in the US?

        would you say that Reagan, Bush I and Bush II, and McCain and Mitt all “lusted” for power? or would you say that they had AMBITION?

        I sense a bit of misogyny in your post.

    • Katenotkatie says:

      It’s starting to feel like an extended sequence from Veep. Hilariously absurd, but terrifying and sobering because this is real life.

    • Tiffany :) says:

      I can’t decide. He might be trying to get the cheapest newbie interns to work for him, and they are making yuge mistakes. Or someone on his team has a grudge.

    • CeeCee says:

      They just have so little respect for the electorate’s intelligence. Trump said that he could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot people, and still not lose voters. His ego is enormous.

      • Malak says:

        That’s one of the worst things he has said, but his followers don’t seem to care. Are they all stupid or what. I don’t understand it.

    • Carmen says:

      Evidently when Trump complained about immigrants coming here and stealing everything, he didn’t realize he was talking about his wife.

    • MC2 says:

      This has to be intentional. I feel like I am living through a lame comedy that I think is too far off to even be realistic so I don’t even like the movie. When is Reese Witherspoon going to come in to kick a$$?

    • Llc says:

      Absolutely. At first, I thoght maybe one of his kids was the speech writer, and that is why he didn’t throw around a bunch of accusations (himself) or very publiclly fire someone. However,have any of you heard about the possibe/probable rickroll in her speech? There is a line in the speech that quotes a Rick Astley song. It HAS to be sabotage. I’m in no way a fan of ANYONE in that family, but I do feel sorry for her right now. You know he’s furious, and I bet he’s taking some of that out on her.

    • Sarah says:

      I wonder if Melania did this on purpose? She doesn’t want to be First Lady!

      While driving today, I was struck by some commentators saying the Trump marriage is in trouble. I think it is, and I still think Trump is going to complain everyone’s being mean and unfair to him, and he is quitting. I wonder, then, who would be the candidate? Cruz or Pence? Both haters, in my view.

  4. Bluebelle says:

    This is so damn embarrassing. If there’s something people, not just political candidates should strive for is being literate. I’m all for excusing polyglots because people tend to think on their first language and of course the nerves, but Melania YOU’VE HAD TIME!

    • lilacflowers says:

      She should also have avoided words she has difficulty pronouncing. Like “factor” Apparently, the FCC doesn’t monitor political conventions. And she is old enough and has been here long enough to know which words give her problems.

    • Locke Lamora says:

      The only interesting thing that would happen if Trump became president would be if America had a Slovenian Frist Lady. And after that the world would implode, because Trump is president.
      Factor is a very difficult word to pronounce. The way “r” is said in English is so so hard for people who speak South Slavic languages. Like, Rory or ruler are the hardest words to say ever.

      I always wanted to ask, do the Obamas speak any foreign languages? No shade, genuinely asking.

      • Emma33 says:

        BO speaks some Bahasa Indonesia, but I think at a fairly child-like level, because that’s when he was there.

      • Mira says:

        Obama speaks conversational Indonesian. The last american president to be fluent in more than one language was Roosevelt.

      • Lilacflowers says:

        Did she have trouble with the “r”? I was too stunned to notice after the sound “f*ck” came through my TV speakers. She turned another word into “fart.” She knows what sounds are difficult and she had time to rehearse and rewrite if necessary to avoid any problems.

    • Emma - The JP Lover says:

      I think the more important embarrassment here is that the woman stole parts of Michelle Obama’s 2008 Convention speech word for word.

      • MsGoblin says:

        EXACTLY! I can deal with and even ignore an accent, if the words being said have not been stolen.

        This was theft, plain and simple. This is what gets a student expelled from higher learning institutions. This is what follows guilty parties throughout their entire career (MLKjr, Jane Goodall, etc.)

        Focusing on her accent is a red herring. The accent is not the issue.

      • JenniferJustice says:

        You’re right – we should fuckus on the plagiarism not her accent. Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. LOL

      • Bettyrose says:

        Can’t we all just agree it’s the best thing that’s ever happened, and enjoy the beauty of this moment?

    • Melly says:

      Her speech was not very good. I don’t know why everyone is falling over themselves to compliment it. She’s been in the United States for 16 years and she has been working on the speech for 5-6 weeks, she should have nailed it. It’s literally the only thing she has to do. Not only is there a plagiarism issue (which should have been caught by someone) but there was also no discussion of Melania’s marriage to Donald. The whole point of her speech was to introduce herself to the country and present a more gentle side of Donald. She didn’t do a good job with either one.

      • Lilacflowers says:

        There was no discussion of their marriage because the parts of Michelle’s speech about meeting while at Harvard Law, moving to Chicago, and having two daughters weren’t going to work.

      • doofus says:

        can you imagine her trying to talk about their marriage and how they met?

        “well, we were both on dates with other people…he was with his wife, so it was really hard for us to sneak around – I mean – find time to see each other…”

      • Lee says:

        Lmao Lilacflowers!

      • Melly says:

        She could of made up an anecdote about what Barron and Donald do together, or the kind of husband he is, etc. It had nothing personal. It didn’t make Donald seem more human. That’s the point of the spouse speech.
        I’m not trying to pick on her, because I know that English isn’t her first language, but I couldn’t get over the basic grammar and pronunciation errors she made. She’s a billionaires wife who has been in this country for 16 years, you would think her English would be almost perfect.

      • Chanteloup says:

        Echoing Lee – lmao, lilacflowers!
        I never click on Trump stories because they make me sick, but I am so glad I came here for the comments today! hahahahaha

    • hmmm says:

      I wonder if she truly speaks 5 languages fluently, Because she sounds barely literate or articulate in English and she’s been in the states how long?

      • Nene says:

        As someone who grew up in countries for most of my life, I can say that it’s not easy to perfect a language which isn’t your own no matter how much time you spend in a country where it’s spoken, I understand certain languages but if you ask me to speak, I’d sound like an idiot. I think it’s easier to be critical of her grammatical errors just because she’s a trump, but if it was someone else I don’t think it’d be an issue, that’s not ok in my opinion. (And neither is her plagiarism)

      • Katie says:

        I felt the same way, here and on other sites! She’s Trumps wife so it’s ok to attack her English and accent, any other immigrant made fun of like this would have made the heads of these same people EXPLODE!! The using of parts of someone else’s speech is a different matter. But IMO, I don’t think she wrote that part. I think someone else “helped her” by adding that.

  5. Priscilla says:

    What the hell?! Are they throwing the election?!?!?

    • Tig says:

      If in fact it is self-sabotage, keep on keeping on is all I have to say. I sort of wonder if he is going to pull a stunt like what happened in Britain- the very pols who campaigned the hardest for Breitnex(know that’s spelled incorrectly!) were the same ones who bailed on developing the proposals for making it work.

    • Christin says:

      Can we also discuss that they had Chachi as an event speaker?

      This has to be a reality show instead of a genuine election.

      • doofus says:

        as one of my friends said, he’s finally stepping out from behind Fonzi’s shadow.

      • Bridget says:

        Don’t worry, Antonio Sabato Jr is in the lineup too.

      • Christin says:

        I just checked out some recent online feud he (and his supposedly sick wife) had with a 16 year old actor. Unbelievable. They were both blasting a KID, and putting him down when he’s just starting his career and life!

        He has also tried to scrub down how he met his wife. I guess meeting at a certain well-known mansion of ‘rabbits’ isn’t ok anymore.

      • Tate says:

        Chachi and his wife are both vile nut jobs.

        I am now officially over my high school crush on Antonio Sabato Junior. 😂

      • Size Does Matter says:

        YES! When Chachi is your celebrity headliner in 2016 you’ve reached a new low! Maybe they will trot out Mr. Furley next.

      • doofus says:

        Christin, his online feuds are continuous. he can spew all sorts of innuendo about anyone, including the Pres (calling him a muslim jihadist, etc.) but when other people tried to make a point about that, by saying “oh, I heard Scott Baio is a pedophile/rapist/cokehead” he threatens to sue.

        pot, kettle, etc.

        ETA: Tate, me too! and @Size – LMAO at “Mr. Furley”.

      • Tate says:

        Doofus, I took a peak at his Twitter. It made all of the sexiness disappear instantly!!

      • Christin says:

        @Doofus – I had no idea what a continual pattern he’s had. Whatever nostalgic liking I had was already gone after watching his reality show.

        I just read a couple of his online rants putting others down and the suing threats. ‘I could get more from a ham sandwich?’ What’s sad is, he’ll probably be a candidate for public office one day.

      • holly hobby says:

        He hired a bunch of Apprentice flunkies to work the elections too. Erin and Omarosa are two that I can think of. Yeah, are we being punked?

      • lisa says:

        it’s not even a high quality reality show, it’s the dr drew house

    • PunkyMomma says:

      PunkyDaddy has contended this from the beginning – Trump entered to throw the election. 👀

      • the_blonde_one says:

        I just said above that I am convinced that Trump himself is behind this so that he can lose- and blame a woman.

      • PunkyMomma says:

        the_blonde_one Yes! PunkyDaddy thinks this is a golf bet that went too far. And now that he’s made Melania look like a fool, enter a new and improved wife number four. It’s a win-win for him —

    • Sarah says:

      He was supposed to meet with donors in Ohio this morning (Tuesday) but he raced back to NYC for some reason last night and stood them up! This is truly a cluster-you-know-what!!!!

  6. Jenns says:

    This sh*tshow is making me giddy on this Tuesday morning. The best part is that those dopes in the audience had no idea that they were applauding Michelle Obama’s words.

    • PGrant's Girl says:

      I actually forgot the convention was on — and I usually don’t watch them anyway because nothing’s going to change my vote — but considering the freak show that happened last night, maybe I should tune in! And that “I was born a poor, black child” tweet totally made me LOL as I was stuck in traffic!

  7. Sayrah says:

    Lol, well SHE didn’t plagiarize but her writer certainly did.

    • Emma - The JP Lover says:

      @Sayrah …

      She plagiarized because she said the words.

    • B n A fn says:

      She told Matt Lauder she wrote the speech with a little help as possible. I don’t believe she wrote it, but she took credit for writing it. Too bad to sad she lied.

  8. OSTONE says:

    OMG! I don’t watch neither of the conventions because I just get angry, but hilarious! I am still waiting for skeletons to come out of Trump’s closet to shock the core base, unfortunately at this point I doubt anything would shock them and they would still vote for him. And to the long-lasting republican politicians appalled at Trump’s nomination, y’all did it to yourselves!

    • EM says:

      Me too – I am on a self-imposed blackout of the conventions because secretly I am hoping to wake up and find out that there are different nominees.

      Thursday’s speech by Ivanka & Donald will be especially difficult – I can only hope that Clinton does as advised and names her VP candidate on Friday to steal as much thunder as possible.

      • Lilacflowers says:

        Hillary should announce her choice at 10:25 Thursday night so all the networks run those crawl captions about it on the screen while Trump is speaking and he won’t know it.

      • Betsy says:

        @Lilacflowers – that would be hilarious.

      • EM says:

        @Lilacflowers – submit that idea pronto!

        After a much heated debate I’ve realized that Trump supporters don’t like getting called “Trump-bots” 🙂

    • Melly says:

      It’s a sad state of affairs when our political parties believe it’s party before country.

    • lucy2 says:

      I won’t watch the GOP convention, as it would turn me into a rage monster. I love hearing all the news about what a clusterf@ck it was though.
      It all sounds like something Stefan from SNL would say: “The RNC has everything: Protestors, Antonio Sabato Jr, plagiarism, Chachi, Rick Rolling…”

      • WingKingdom says:

        Crying with laughter!! Stefan reference is SPOT ON!!! 😂😂😂

      • Christin says:

        I saw snippets yesterday afternoon of the costumed attendees (looked like they rolled in from a pancake joint or bingo tournament). Who would’ve believed any of this, even eight years ago?

        And lest we forget, they had Willie from the ‘quack’ reality show. You know, the preppy guy who grew beards with his brothers so they could milk 15 minutes of fame.

    • CL says:

      I think Trump could kill puppies and eat a baby on live television, and his supporters wouldn’t give a shit. He’s their story and they’re sticking to it.

  9. Jenns says:

    She also Rick Rolled the audience too with this quote:

    “He will never, ever give up. And most importantly, he will never, ever let you down.”

    • Taiss says:

      “He is loyal, he’ll never let you down” said his 3rd wife.

    • lilacflowers says:

      One of our local radio stations was playing that this morning when they were playing her speech along with Michelle’s.

    • doofus says:

      was that really in the speech?!

    • tealily says:

      Yes!!!! I can’t figure out if she was Rick Rolled by the speech writers, if she was Rick Rolling the RNC, or if the RNC was Rick Rolling us all! The cynical part of me (HUGE part of me after watching last night) think that was probably put in there intentionally to get us talking about it online today. They should have know it would be overshadowed by the plagiarism!

    • Luca76 says:

      Yeah that was some next level trolling. Whoever wrote that line is truly brave as hell 😂

    • Bread and Circuses says:

      That’s the line that really does make me wonder if someone’s sabotaging the campaign internally.

      I could buy a scorching sense of entitlement as the reason behind plagiarizing Michelle Obama. I could even buy the plagiarism being due to the panic of an overworked underpaid flunky trying to cobble something together. But a rickroll??

    • bettyrose says:

      IKR?? I feel like the media is obsessed with her plagiarizing Michelle Obama, and is totally ignoring that she equally called upon the great orator that is Rick Astley.

    • I Choose Me says:

      This entire article and thread has me dying. LMAO.

      • Tate says:

        Me too. I can’t stop coming back and reading more comments. 😂😂😂

      • The Eternal Side-Eye says:

        I had a dentist appt this morning so I missed a lot of Celebitchy fun this morning but damn this is hilarious.

        If this isn’t sabotage than God has a better sense of humor than us all.

      • Christin says:

        This is like a mockumentary!

  10. sb says:

    Ladies and Gentlemen. I would like to nominate Melania Trump to be the first lady…that we deport.

    *sarcasm disclaimer: the commenter in no way condones suggested deportation talk of millions, only for Melania and her vile husband.

  11. tifzlan says:

    And all of this on the same day Representative Whiteshisface from Iowa saying that no non-white “sub-group” has contributed to human civilization as white people have.

    DELICIOUS.

    • TheOtherMaria says:

      Ugh, Steve King needs to be slapped with a history book 😒

      As for Melanie’s speech, Michelle did it better and with far more sincerity.

      • Bread and Circuses says:

        Indeed, a lot of history involves entitled white people simply taking for themselves the art, words, innovations, and technologies of other cultures.

        Think of it as a much more violent version of hipster “curation”. And I say that as a pasty person myself.

      • tealily says:

        Funny how you come off as more sincere when you use your own words, huh?

    • Kitten says:

      Well to be fair, they had to put something in there to cater to the KKK members, white nationalists, hate groups and…well…you know, the people who are voting for Trump.

      http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/donald-trump-white-supremacists-216620

    • doofus says:

      yeah, for anyone to say, now, that the GOP isn’t the party for racists?…they can have all the seats.

  12. Spikey says:

    And as I understand, she was also deeply inspired by Rick Astley. *lol*
    http://www.vox.com/2016/7/19/12221654/melania-trump-rickroll

    How is this level of obnoxiousness and ignorance possible? I just don’t get it. These people are rich! They can buy the best help that’s out there. How? Why?

  13. Roxane says:

    This must be a parody.

  14. Rose says:

    Well most definitely the circus is in town! What did people expect?

    • Jane says:

      She already got the clown costume started, so I guess the circus is arriving shortly there after?

  15. Onerous says:

    In addition – this shit show had completely masked my knowledge of the RNC’s Platform of Bigotry ™ until this morning. Their actual platform is insane – anti marriage equality, anti parenting equality, Pro “clean” coal, AND the f-ing wall is in there. Their platform states that they will build a wall across the entire southern border. WTF!?

    • lilacflowers says:

      Because the fence they built wasn’t expensive enough and didn’t cause enough problems. And nobody ever heard of ropes, ladders, or tunnels.

      • Jayna says:

        Yeah. Trump says his wall will cost $8 billion. The estimates are much higher. And he tries to pull the wool over the voters’ eyes saying he will make Mexico pay for the wall, which is ludicrous. That would never happen.

        He’s a joke, and his supporters who believe the crap he throws out blows my mind

        His explanation on how he was going to force Mexico to pay up makes me shake my head.

        ttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-would-seek-to-block-money-transfers-to-force-mexico-to-fund-border-wall/2016/04/05/c0196314-fa7c-11e5-80e4-c381214de1a3_story.html

    • dotdotdot says:

      Lol, if Trump wins the wall will be more useful to keep people from fleeing the USA

      • Fire Rabbit says:

        I’ve never appreciated the fact that my husband is Canadian more than now. As my youngest son jests, at least we have someplace to go. My father-in-law jokes that if Americans vote Trump in, Canada will be the one building that wall.

      • Trashaddict says:

        LOL,
        http://www.brickingitforcanada.com/

        (The moose-call sounds effects are what really makes it special!)

    • doofus says:

      they also put something in there about how Planned Parenthood “sells baby parts”, even though it’s been debunked HOW many times? SMDH…

  16. NICKI says:

    Thanks Jesse Williams for starting those tweets. I especially loved the ice ice baby one

  17. GoodNamesAllTaken says:

    I recognized the part about “my husband will fight for you.” It was very similar to MO’s speech.

    She came across as not so bright.

  18. lower-case deb says:

    why is it surprising though?
    considering that Trump not only lifted his campaign tagline from Reagan, and even had the audacity to try to trademark it as his?

    goodness only knows what else he has taken and claimed as his.

    • Insomniac says:

      I guess it’s surprising because they stole some lines from an Obama. You know, those evil America-hating traitors who usurped the White House for the last eight years and destroyed the country. /s

      • Betsy says:

        And considering the Donald was one of the loudest birthed voices, you’d think the last thing he’d want to do is steal ideas from someone he doesn’t think is a legitimate president.

    • Fire Rabbit says:

      Ripping off others is SOP for Trump. He and his were doing nothing more than honestly showing themselves last night.

  19. Adrien says:

    Her speechwriter did. He/she also inserted a rickroll in Melania’s speech.

  20. Jayna says:

    I loved how Melania said she wrote the speech herself with as little help as possible. Now, with the blatant plagiarism, the senior communications advisor to the Trump campaign let the cat out of the bag with the comment that she had a “team of writers.,” and that it “included some fragments that reflected her own thinking.” That’s what he’s calling it, just borrowing some fragments of Michelle’s speech because it so perfectly reflected Melania’s thinking. Ha. You even need the Democrats for that.

    LOL Then the next explanation in an interview sounded silly.

    I guess Donald is rubbing off on Melania as far as the truth when she stated that she wrote the speech, for the most part, not a team of writers – and Michelle. LOL

    She did a good job, but she must be furious that they put in there plagiarized portions from Michelle Obama’s great speech from the Democratic Convention. LOL Too funny,

    • Spikey says:

      And what exactly is “a fragment of her own thinking”? Does that mean that
      a) the woman is incapable of one single coherent thought
      b) her thoughts, although vaguely coherent and inherently logical, are such a catastrophy that we can’t let her speak her mind?
      I would come hard for any dipshit who would use the term “fragment of her own thinking” about me in public. Just…. wow. I’m an atheist, green liberal European and I feel sorry for American republicans who are forced to witness this mockery of their party.

      • Kitten says:

        I don’t feel sorry for them AT ALL.

      • Betsy says:

        +1 Kitten
        They made this mess all on their own by embracing the absolute worst parts of their party and by embracing every fact free news source they could find or invent.

    • Jayna says:

      @Spikey, he was trying to downplay using plagiarized portions from Michelle Obama’s speech by using the word “fragments” I guess of Michelle’s speech when explaining why they used it in Melania’s speech, saying because it reflected how she felt too.

      It was just some crazy back-pedaling Republican-splaining for such blatant plagiarism and trying to package it differently in his explanation for plagiarizing part of Michelle’s speech, which didn’t work.

      • Christin says:

        Neither of them seem capable of speaking full sentences.

        ‘Words.. I have the best words.’

    • SusanneToo says:

      I hope Michelle comes out and says she’s flattered they liked her and Barack’s vision so much that they quoted it.

      • Who ARE these people? says:

        Me too. And I can see Michelle and her husband doing this with a big ol’ twinkle in their eyes. I hope they add that Michelle will be available for consulting work and speech coaching as she’ll be in Washington DC for the next couple of years.

  21. kori says:

    And what makes it better is that the speechwriter who helped Michele had worked for Hilary! So they plagiarized from two of the women the GOP can’t stand the most!

  22. Ninks says:

    I am trying to imagine the kind of person you’d have to be, to be clapping and cheering when Trump walks on the stage…. and I can’t. It’s unfathomable to me.

    This is hilarious though. The clip on the plane where she says she wrote it herself isn’t very convincing at all. I doubt she had any input. I thought it was pretty clear when she was reading it, even accounting for English not being her first language, that she didn’t know what words would come next. She paused in places she shouldn’t have, and that shows somebody reading a speech they didn’t write. So the plagiarism, combined with the rick roll in the middle of it, makes me think somebody did it deliberately.

    • QQ says:

      here is what I’ve come away from seeing this sh*t play out and this CLEARLY PLAGIARIZED SPEECH ( why is that even Plaintively posed in this post for EL.Oh.EL) mess in the news this am:

      The Trump people are at this point in time Unembarraseable, they have been so thoroughly let cook on so many factually inaccurate/offensive things and have seen ZERO negative consequences, The Base is in their own hate bubble, The Media covered it like it was funny, The Party Certainly didnt snatch them or is making this thing a contested convention so what gives? why would they care about stealing? Trump is in the words of Future, Serving the Base and serving it well may i add

  23. mytake says:

    We decided to watch parts of the convention last night. Ya know, masochistic tendencies. There were messy and blatant displays of tokenism, which….I don’t even know how to explain the cringe. There was that guy — not at the convention, but on one of the news networks — who flat out said, on national television, that “whites” are the only “sub-group” that has contributed to Western Civilization. As for the speakers? Wow. ZERO SUBSTANCE. Zilch. Nada. The crowd just basically chanted “USA” and “Lock Her Up!” all night (Her being Hilary). You think I’m exaggerating, but I’m not. The speeches were just buzz phrases strung together (haphazardly) — USA IS FREEDOM! WE MUST GET BACK TO OUR WAY OF LIFE! BLUE LIVES MATTER! Sentences like that. And only that. One guy even said “WAR IS WINNING!” several times in a row.

    The whole thing was un-fucking-believable.

    • Esmom says:

      I also heard a clip of one of the speakers, not surprisingly, defiantly scream “All lives matter!”

      S$%&show indeed.

    • Kitten says:

      The whole Republican Convention is like some sci-fi reimagining of what this country would be like without the Civil Rights Movement.

      SUPER creepy.

      • notasugarhere says:

        It is very Margaret Atwood Handmaid’s Tale, isn’t it?

      • Who ARE these people? says:

        Civil Rights + Women’s Rights + whatever other rights they feel like violating. Oh, waterboarding. Human Rights. So there’s that.

        I dull the pain by trying to imagine the USA without racism and guns.

    • Lilacflowers says:

      Let’s not forget the chants of BENGHAZI!

      • doofus says:

        ugh…I was at a fair on Sunday and some knuckledragger had on a tshirt with some language about “remember the fallen at Benghazi” with Benghazi being the biggest letters so you could see it from far away. It took all of my strength (and that of my bf as he was holding me back) to go up to him and ask if he had tshirts commemorating all of the people killed at embassies under Reagan/Bush I/Bush II.

      • doofus says:

        *oops, meant to say “to NOT go up to him and ask…”

      • nicole says:

        They really had it in for Hillary, basically calling her a murderer, and making Trump out to be this great savour of America, who’s going to make evertything hunky dory again, c’mon they are living in dreamland if the think that stooge is going t o save the world, I would put my money on him blowing it up!

      • JenniferJustice says:

        There was a woman yelling and crying “Hillary killed my son!” A random ignorant emotionally distraught mother of a fallen soldier that Trump’s campaign took advantage of. Those are the kinds of people they have ‘speaking’ for them…some seriously sick sh!t.

      • Elise says:

        The Washington Post is fact checking the claims made at the RNC, and their information about Benghazi is very, very interesting. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/07/19/fact-checking-the-first-day-of-the-2016-republican-national-convention/

        I think a lot of the negativity about Hillary comes from the feeling that “if there’s THAT much smoke, there HAS to be fire”–but consider the source of the smoke, folks. I’m not saying she’s perfect–but I don’t think she’s nearly as bad as she’s made out to be. (And compared to Trump? Canonize the woman.)

      • lilacflowers says:

        Apparently, we were supposed to bomb Libya or something and kill thousands in the process. Because that would have saved four people. Oh, wait, it wouldn’t have. It just would have killed lots of innocent people.

    • I Choose Me says:

      Just reading about sh-t like thiat scares me. I can’t imagine even watching it or being there.

    • isabelle says:

      Steve King made those remarks about white people making the biggest contributions.

  24. Cora says:

    Plagiarising Michelle Obama and putting an epic Rickroll in there … that speech was amateur hour.

    By the way, according to Jon Favreau (Obama’s former chief speechwriter) Michelle Obama wrote most of that speech herself. That made me respect Michelle all the more.

  25. Dibba says:

    She could have read speech plagiarized from Hitler and those tools would have loved it

    • Tate says:

      Oh for sure. Those idiots would have enthusiastically clapped for anything she said.

    • Esmom says:

      Yes. And that’s what is slightly alarming about this. While normal people can laugh about this, Trump supporters will only double down on their support and venom.

    • Betsy says:

      Well sure. She still looked pretty, and that’s all they want from women.

    • Christin says:

      I live in a deeply R area, and it is amazing what some people believe (and excuse). They yap about Bill’s women, but believe DT is all about family values. They repeat anything they hear that disparages HC or the Dems.

      And as my wonderfully fair-minded father said, BO may not be perfect, but he takes a lot of heat for things started by GWB. The financial bailouts were initially started by GWB right before the election. Yet BO is tagged with it.

    • Elise says:

      Well, yeah. Hell, Hitler would have applauded a lot those folks were saying.

  26. Karen says:

    Hahaha

    Hahaha

    Hahaha

    The RNC is a train wreck.
    Instead of legitimizing his candidacy, he’s got:
    *loud disapproval from own party “never-trump”
    *no-shows from all previous Republican presidents
    *his wife plagiarized her speech (bonus points for it being from M. Obama), and
    *his motorcade can’t even mange to keep everyone “safe” and crashed.

    • tracking says:

      It’s been an incredible display of hack-ishness at every level.

    • JenniferJustice says:

      The best part was that wealthy man Trump’s been counting on to fund his campaign. Dude said basically “Never – not one penny!” and walked out. THAT was awesome!!!!

      I wonder if Trump’s failing to find funding for his campaign is a reason he actually might be self-sabotaging. He’s been claiming he’ll fund his own campaign from the git but we know he isn’t capable – he doesn’t have that kind of money. I think maybe he’d rather lose than admit he lied about his worth and have the world know for a fact he isn’t as rich as he claims.

  27. notEye says:

    Her face looks like it hurts to smile

    • nicole says:

      notEye, I agree, her face is so tight, she cant really express emotion when she is speaking, she would be so much prettier if she left her face alone, I think she is still an attractive lady, but all the botox has made her very stiff looking, and her eyes are getting that cat lady look. I just dont know how any women could live with him.

  28. B n A fn says:

    She pliagerised the speech but the Trump campaign will deny it. I’m betting DT will not apologized, he will double down. The writer of The Art of The Deal co writer said DT is a pathological lier and it would be the end of civilization as we know it because he has no conscience and will do anything to gain power.

    Just saw this on msnbe that Paul Manifold is saying that MT knew what she was doing. I’m guessing they are throwing her under the bus.

    Btw, joe S is in the tank for Donald, just saying.

  29. What was that says:

    I do not believe they understand the concept of plagiarism and would not care either
    Stealing ideas is just ‘being inventive’….I believe that this will be defended and all the people who think Trump is a clever businessman will just put this as another plot or excuse another way…How the mighty party has fallen…
    People with no morality or principles…..

  30. als says:

    The way she looked when talking, squinting and trying to be convincing and determined, she looks like a villainess in a telenovela.
    There’s so much drama and wanting in her eyes, like she already sees herself the First lady during the speech.

    I understand Nigel Farage attended as well. Probably because he wants to make America great again after making UK great again.

  31. Mia4s says:

    Speaking from relative safety north of the border I’m almost dumbfounded at the disaster. To anyone of any sense thinking of voting “Green” or not voting. Stop. Stop now. You are literally risking putting white supremacist, anti-women clowns in charge that will make your country an absolute joke in the eyes of the world. For all her faults (and they are many!!) your country can be sustained with Hillary. Get her in office, spend the next four years building up a green or whatever third party but for god’s sake don’t be so naive as to think there’s another option right now! This is terrifying!

    • SusanneToo says:

      I just hope that gets through to some of the butthurt, pouting Bernie supporters, but I’m not sure after the posts of a few days ago. I supported Bernie, but I’m not a fool and will be voting straight Democrat in November.

      • Tate says:

        I voted for Bernie. Several of my family members and friends did also. We are all voting for Hillary in November. There is NO other choice. The stakes are too high.

      • mytake says:

        +1

      • lower-case deb says:

        is Hillary now de facto democratic candidate?
        i thought Bernie can still bring the fight to the Convention; or at least Bernie’s supporters can try to score a win there? i seem to remember some past presidents losing primaries but bringing it successfully at Conventions?

        from what i see, there’s only a thin margin at the primaries?

        or is nowadays Conventions are no longer the place for last minute competition? has the law changed?

        i was just curious since i’ve been reading up on the very complicated voting system in the US.

      • Who ARE these people? says:

        lower-case deb, it’s over – Sanders is supporting Clinton and she won far more votes than he did during the primary process. He worked on pulling the party platform to the left, and whether she follows through on that is anybody’s guess.

        Yes the voting system is very complicated — too complicated, too expensive, too long.

    • H says:

      THIS SO MUCH.

    • Kitten says:

      Couldn’t have said it better myself.

    • Jackson says:

      Indeed. Totally agree.

    • Who ARE these people? says:

      The Canadian paper Globe & Mail at first described Melania as giving a “warm” speech supporting her husband. Now they’ve modified it slightly. So polite. So corporate-owned. “The Republican convention: Donald Trump’s wife accused of ‘cribbing’ speech”

  32. Merritt says:

    I’m glad the media is actually covering this, instead of just doing nothing. Trump’s spokesman on CBS this morning sounded like a complete idiot trying to act like there were no similarities between the speeches.

    • nicole says:

      Is it me, but I find all the Trump representatives to be idiots, particurly that Corey Lewendeowski, he now has a job on CNN, and I cant stand him, or that Kaylee whats her name, she always has excuses for no matter what Trump says or does, they all seem brainwashed by him.

  33. Nona says:

    I didn’t stay up to watch it either, so I woke up this morning, checked CNN online, and that’s the main headline. Literally, my day is made:) I am laughing so hard, I’m crying. And for all those Republicans who applauded Melania’s speech, I am so glad you finally agree that Michelle Obama is an incredibly intelligent, compassionate woman.

  34. pookypie says:

    Didn’t Michelle Obama also wear a dress exactly like that but in a different color in the past?

  35. AG-UK says:

    My friend in NY and I hope he is correct thinks something will come out that will ruin him I hope hope so. I had to double check they had my correct address as I cannot afford NOT to vote and those who feel that both candidates are just as bad well don’t vote and you’ll the Dumpster in. I live in London but def. would SWEAR I am Canadian if anyone asks. You can’t make this crazy up?

    • LinaLamont says:

      Right now, he’s Teflon.
      The problem/solution isn’t something coming out; it’s the morons/sheeple that support him.
      THEY.DON’T. CARE.
      FACTS. DON’T. MATTER.

      (not yelling at you. ..at THEM)

      • Bread and Circuses says:

        The most racist person I know has, in the past year, gone from thing Trump is fantastic to thinking he’s dangerous and too unstable to be given power.

        So I have hope. Common sense is present even amongst the wingnuts.

      • Christin says:

        My hope is that the DT supporters are truly a minority (just a very loud minority), and that there will be enough cross-over votes to prevent DT from being elected. However, I do know of some R voters who are planning to not vote at all, which makes no sense.

    • Elise says:

      I think the only thing that could ruin him at this point is having his income tax return released. And maybe not even that. I totally agree with Mia4s. Throwing away your vote is serving the devil, this time around.

  36. LinaLamont says:

    I turned down the sound, and, aside from looking apoplectic, Giuliani looked like Stalin or Hitler with his gesticulating. Holy shit.
    And don’t jump on me with Godwin’s Law.
    I’m making a serious analogy to body language; not a comparison of anything else–psyche, words, etc..

    Melania’s just.   UGH

    • JudyK says:

      Giuliani looked positively satanic several times last night with his gesticulating and wild facial expressions. He’s not even articulate. I will never understand his appeal to anyone.

      • LinaLamont says:

        @JUDYK

        “I will never understand his appeal to anyone.”

        We were in shock and paralyzed during/after 9/11. At the time, it was comforting and reassuring to have Giuliani telling us we were okay.

        In retrospect, it could have been any leader, but, we attributed character traits to him that were false. The rest of the country knows/remembers only the 9/11 persona and halo.

        Most NYers know the truth.

      • Who ARE these people? says:

        NYer here knowing the truth too. He’s a monster.

      • Bridget says:

        He rode a wave of 9/11 support for years, but even that wasn’t enough to sustain him. Remember when Rudy was a ‘frontrunner’ for the Republican nod in ’08? That stopped really quickly as soon as he was subject to any real scrutiny.

      • nicole says:

        I thought during 9/11, he seemed like a really nice compassionate man, but I think now he is a real mouthpeice, and I agree, he was over the top last night, at one stage I thlought he was going to pass out, he got so worked up.

      • mayamae says:

        On 9/11 and the immediate days following, Giuliani became our de facto leader. Dubya was MIA after appearing bug-eyed and terrified, and Giuliani was literally on the streets of Manhattan looking strong, decisive, and compassionate. I’m a Liberal, and even I gained reassurance from him in those early days. I remember him saying (in essence) that the death count would be too high for us to bear. Too bad he squandered that good will.

      • LinaLamont says:

        @MAYAMAE

        Yup

    • Who ARE these people? says:

      Won’t jump on you, especially as I told a friend we might as well be watching old footage of the Nuremberg rallies. It’s purely an emotional mob scene.

  37. JudyK says:

    There’s no question it is plagiarized…it’s word for word. All morning, all the networks have been showing Michelle and Melania side by side saying the exact same thing (w/ one or two words’ difference). But I am not blaming Melania…I doubt Melania even knew what plagiarism meant until things started coming down on her late last night. It takes a lot of skill to do plagiarism well–this was NOT done well–and it was obviously done by a speech writer.

    Most people who try to get away with plagiarism are subtle about it, stealing a few words here and there and jumping around in so doing, but not so here…two paragraphs WORD FOR WORD from Michelle O’Bama’s speech.

    • JudyK says:

      See I gave Michelle Obama a new name…embarrassing, no sleep last night…and too late to edit.

      • Betsy says:

        Eh, honest mistake. Also, remember after the 2008 election they talked about the Irish people named O’Bama. I thought that was neat.

    • The Eternal Side-Eye says:

      I don’t know why O’Bama made me laugh so hard but damn was that funny.

      • JudyK says:

        I know…I have an English degree and have edited two published books. I don’t know where that came from…had to laugh at myself!

  38. stephanie says:

    well, to be fair I don’t think Melania plagiarized. It’s not like she’s writing her own speeches. That said, ugh all around.

    • Deedee says:

      She told Matt Lauer she wrote it with “little help.” So she’s a plagiarist and/or a liar.

      • Bread and Circuses says:

        She’s a gorgeous trophy wife who is gives every appearance of being happy with the orange megaphone she married.

        So probably “liar” is the accurate call, here. She’s good at this stuff — or at least good enough to fool Trump, who does not seem too bright around people who fuel his ego.

  39. Margo S. says:

    This is so friggin funny. She was probably you tubing Michelle speech and legit writing her words down. Hahahaha. This has to be a joke! So ridiculous and amazing.

    • Christin says:

      Maybe her son wrote it and did it the ‘easy’ way. Earning his allowance and all that. After all, the coffers are supposedly running low, right?

  40. She can go back to chasing moose and squirrel now.

  41. Lambda says:

    This morning I read the headline and I started laughing so hard that I accidentally put my fingers in my eyes after I had handled chili peppers. My eyes burned for an hour. Thanks, Obama!

  42. Cassie says:

    pic.twitter.com/6UCk6zYrtY

  43. B n A fn says:

    Did anyone noticed that the tweets above of Obama. and Donald are exactly the same? Donald stole Obama’s tweet, word for word except Donald changed Michelle to Melania. And he call Clinton

  44. Carmen says:

    She plagiarized it almost word,for word. After villainizing and demonizing Michelle Obama for eight years, they have the nerve to steal the speech she gave at the DNC in 2008. If you’re going to steal, by all means steal from the best.

    I can’t wait to hear Donald’s I Have A Dream speech. That ought to be epic.

  45. Melody says:

    Is it me, or has Caitlyn Jenner been going for a Melania Trump look all this time?

  46. TeamAwesome says:

    Can we talk about the dress? Both this one and the one she had on in the plane interview with Matt Lauer’s skinny white jeans made her look like she’s in her second trimester.
    The puff sleeves are supposed to be bells, but she had them altered.

    Also, the one commentator that said something like now we know what to expect from Bill Clinton’s speech had me crying with laughter.

  47. Lilacflowers says:

    I suppose we should be grateful she stole and Rick rolled a good speech from Michelle instead of copying Ann Romney ‘s “I love women!” mishmash

    • Tiffany says:

      I remember Ann Romney’s tone deaf speech like it was 4 years ago. Damn, that shit was funny.

      • lilacflowers says:

        Because a Stepford Wife’s proclamation of love for people of her own gender (not that she was coming out or anything) would convince the rest of us to vote for her husband.

    • Tate says:

      OMG, I forgot about the “I love women!” moment!!

  48. Juluho says:

    I loathe and depose Trump BUT this seems very obvious and clear attempt by the speech writers to discredit this woman, whom I’m sure did not know she was plagiarizing.

    • FingerBinger says:

      Why would the writers try to discredit the nominee’s wife? They don’t have anything to gain by doing that.

  49. Green Is Good says:

    This is a joke, right? Where’s Ashton Kutcher?

  50. Craig says:

    Despite what she told Matt Lauer, Melania did not write her own speech. Nobody writes their own speeches, not Trump, not Hillary Clinton, not Obama or Michelle, and certainly not Melania.

    I do feel bad for Melania in some way—her first big coming out to the American public and she blows it.

    Expect some members of team Trump to be fired today or tomorrow, and you better believe Ivanka and her team are going through her upcoming speech with a fine tooth and comb…..

    • Sigh... says:

      Jon Favreau, an O’Bama speechwriter, tweeted that THIS particular speech Michelle O’Bama *mostly* wrote herself, so in THIS instance, Mrs Trump (or whoever) appears to may have, erm, “borrowed heavily” from the then-soon-to-be-FLOTUS, herself.

      But I agree, there are very few political speakers who don’t have a team of writers/consultants, who also cherry-pick from other writers, speeches, etc. Still, as someone tweeted under #FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes” – “Dude, even Vanilla Ice changed the beat just a little.” 😁

    • isabelle says:

      Obama actually did write many of his speeches with some help. His team helps on the bigger speeches but he writes the majority of it. One of the few candidates/Presidents in recent history that does write his own speeches.

  51. Donna Martin says:

    Shes probably not active on his campaign as he probably doesn’t want to remind people he’s married to an #immigrant #hypocrite

  52. anon123 says:

    One side is Trump, on the other side is Hillary.
    The US finally got completely embroiled in its own hubris. It was a long time coming.
    It is a scary situation for the rest of the world.

  53. nicegirl says:

    I watched the train wreck last night, and was appalled. IT was CRAAAA ZAAAAAYYYY.
    I have been cracking up all morning watching the speech side by sides – what a sh-t show, the RNC.

    Trump is such a ridiculous fool.

  54. holly hobby says:

    Steve Schmidt going apoplectic is funny. Poor man, he manned the McCain campaign which brought us that nitwit Palin and now he’s seeing the grand party self emolliating.

    Jesse Williams’ tweet was priceless.

  55. me says:

    America, you truly are the entertainment capital of the world ! You give us such gems lol.

  56. I Choose Me says:

    Just when I thought I couldn’t love Jesse Williams more.

  57. isabelle says:

    One of the most cringy things last night that was done in a night of cringe, when the crowd booed Rachel from the Real World when she said her parents immigrated from Mexico. They actually booed her when she said it standing beside her Congressman husband.

  58. Christin says:

    If he wins, I guess his inaugural speech will include ‘ask not what your country can do for you’ and ‘the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself’.

  59. Molly says:

    regardless of imitation being highest form of flattery, as an English professor, I’d send that speech straight to the dean’s office for plagiarism. Case closed.

    • Carmen says:

      My son is a college professor and he said any student of his who pulled a stunt like that would get an F for the whole semester.

  60. Cinderella says:

    It’s all just so TAWDRY.

  61. Elise says:

    Plagiarism aside, I’m kind of stuck on that last photo of the kiss. He isn’t even looking at her. I can’t think of a picture where she kisses him where he DOES look at her. It’s like he’s smirking to the camera, “see me being adored by the gorgeous chick!” Narcissism in a nutshell, that photo.

  62. Esmom says:

    Predictably, my DT loving FB friend just posted a little Breitbart article saying that Michelle Obama actually plagiarized Saul Alinsky in the speech that Melania plagiarized. Madness…we are a nation of lunatics.

    • lilacflowers says:

      I had someone post an Obama speech that she claimed he plagiarized from Deval Patrick. Problem is, Patrick helped Obama prep for the speech and told him to include the words he himself had used in a speech. Not plagiarism, collaboration that was documented as such years ago. And what difference would it make? Two wrong don’t make the second one right.

      • EM says:

        Just had this posted too – zerohedge has the entire comparison. I also thought that Obama owned up to the day after the speech.

      • lilacflowers says:

        Yes, they both immediately explained what happened.

  63. India says:

    No effing way did Melania plagiarize out first lady’s speech. That is a desperate accusation.

    • Josephina says:

      And so it is ALL JUST a conicidence…two wives speaking about the love of their husbands at very similar events – the political party nominee convention within an 8 year span— where the speeches are WORD FOR WORD in TWO PARAGRAPHS…

      The college dropout versus the IVY league groomed lawyer…have and share the exact same thoughts…word for word?????

      Um…yeah, OK.

      Someone in the RNC camp is either too sloppy or lazy to proofread and fact check a speech at a pivotal point of a presidential race. And how much hard work is involved in cutting and pasting a previous speech as your own?

  64. 2pieces says:

    Viggo must vote in a blue state to make such a statement. There is no chance in hell i want any GOP in any branch. Dems need to sweep. WH and congress, the supreme court is at risk.

  65. JRenee says:

    This is just the tip of the iceberg of what to expect from the Trump’s. This is blatant.

  66. FireNgin says:

    I don’t know if this has been discussed yet, but per my FB conservative “friends,” she did it on purpose so that she would be all that anyone is talking about the next day…oh, and we are all morons for not getting it.

  67. kanyekardashian says:

    FYI – the speechwriter who wrote Michelle’s speech is John Favreau, who is also writing speeches now for Hillary.

    • Josephina says:

      Again… how does that explain that Melania took credit for writing a speech that is not her own?? You borrow from the opposition…nice.

      Contrl C and Contrl V are her best friends now. Her speech is basically Michels’s speech from 2008.

      Seriously, after being married to the Trump for 18 years, … she cannot come up with something original or organic to say about her husband????

      • Elise says:

        An article in the NYTimes this morning says that Trump hired the guys who wrote Bush’s 9/11 speech to write Melania’s, and they sent it to her and waited for feedback. Got crickets–and when they heard the speech, all that was left of their version was the first paragraph. She rewrote the rest of it. Well, the parts she didn’t copy!

    • doofus says:

      and Favreau himself said that, THAT particular speech was written mostly MO herself and that he had only a little input.

      but both your point and my response are irrelevant. having someone write a speech for you is NOT the same as plagiarism. whether Mrs. Drumpf stole from Favreau or Obama doesn’t matter. she stole it and claimed it as her own.

  68. Dez says:

    She did a lot of stealing last night. Took FLOTUS words, C. Jenners dress and look, and Jennifer s baby bump. lol

  69. Christianna says:

    How is this even real?

  70. Okay? says:

    Not surprising.