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Donald Trump’s Wife, Melania Trump Copied Michelle Obama’s 2008 Speech

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One of the more uplifting sections in Melania Trump’s convention speech tonight was virtually identical to a passage from Michelle Obama’s convention speech in 2008.

Here’s the key moment in Trump’s speech:

My parents impressed on me the values: that you work hard for what you want in life. That your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise. That you treat people with respect. They taught me to show the values and morals in my daily life. That is the lesson that I continue to pass along to our son.

And we need to pass those lessons on to the many generations to follow. [Cheering] Because we want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.

And here’s a very similar passage from Obama’s speech in 2008 :

And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don’t know them, and even if you don’t agree with them.

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And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values, and pass them on to the next generation. Because we want our children — and all children in this nation — to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.

The copying is too extensive to be a mere coincidence, which is why so many people are calling it plagiarism. The fact that the plagiarized lines are extolling the value of hard work just makes it all the more striking.

The similarities were first pointed out by Jarrett Hill on Twitter.

CORRECTION: Melania stole a whole graph from Michelle’s speech. #GOPConvention

There’s no explanation (yet) for how this all happened. Before the speech, Melania Trump told NBC’s Matt Lauer: “I wrote it…with a little help as possible.”

Before plagiarized #RNCinCLE speech, Melania told Today show: “I wrote it with as little help as possible”

Normally, big speeches like these are vetted closely by staffers. Earlier, CNN had reported that Melania Trump had been working with a speechwriter “for the last five to six weeks, honing her speech.”

Meanwhile, former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau pointed out an ironic wrinkle in all this:

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Sarah Hurwitz, Michelle’s head speechwriter, used to be Hillary’s. So the Trump campaign plagiarized from a Hillary speechwriter.

Should also say that, like her husband, Michelle wrote a lot of that 2008 campaign speech herself.

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