AROUND THE BLOCK
News with a Twist
RNC Day 1: Melania
Trump Plagiarism, Steve King Racism
Convention opens with attacks, gaffes and D-List Celebs
The first day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, otherwise known as “Trump World – Donald and Melania’s Excellent Adventure,” began, predictably, with attacks on Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama and anyone else vaguely connected with the Democratic Party and ended with evidence of plagiarism and racism.
In the event that has overshadowed all else, Donald Trump’s wife, Melania, delivered an outstanding keynote speech in support of her husband. Outstanding, except for the fact that parts of it appeared to be direct lifts from Michelle Obama’s speech in support of her husband before the Democratic National Convention in 2008.
Comparisons of the two speeches did suggest distinct similarities:
Ms. Trump, Monday night:
“From a young age, 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 and showed me values and morals in their daily lives. That is a lesson that I continue to pass along to our son. And we need to pass those lessons on to the many generations to follow. 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.”
Mrs. Obama, in her 2008 speech:
“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. 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.
Ms. Trump:
“I was born in Slovenia, a small, beautiful and then-communist country in Central Europe. My sister, Ines, who is an incredible woman and a friend, and I were raised by my wonderful parents. My elegant and hardworking mother, Amalija, introduced me to fashion and beauty. My father, Viktor, instilled in me a passion for business and travel. Their integrity, compassion and intelligence reflects to this day on me and for my love of family and America.”
Mrs. Obama in 2008:
“And I come here as a daughter — raised on the South Side of Chicago by a father who was a blue-collar city worker and a mother who stayed at home with my brother and me. My mother’s love has always been a sustaining force for our family, and one of my greatest joys is seeing her integrity, her compassion and her intelligence reflected in my own daughters.”
Despite this evidence, the Trump campaign vigorously defended Mrs. Trump, going so far as to say that it was Hillary Clinton’s fault.
According to Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, “"There's no cribbing of Michelle Obama's speech. These were common words and values. She cares about her family," Manafort said.
Manafort implied that attacks on Mrs. Trump's speech are due to Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, being "threatened" by Trump.
"This is once again an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton, she seeks out to demean her and take her down. It's not going to work," he said.
Other Republicans also supported Mrs. Trump against plagiarism charges. One senior Republican, Representative Trey Gowdy (R-SC), chairman of the House Select Committee to investigate the 2012 Benghazi attack said that he was very concerned about the situation and directed his committee to expand its charter in order to investigate Hillary Clinton’s culpability.
"I am very concerned that Hillary Clinton was directly responsible for the so-called 'cribbing," going on to say, "We don't know if Secretary Clinton planted a speech writer in the Trump campaign or actually invoked some sort of witchcraft, but make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this no matter how long it takes and how much money we need to spend"
And Trump surrogate and sycophant-in-chief, New Jersey governor Chris Christie told CNN that “only 7%” of the speech appeared to be copied from Mrs. Obama, imposing the here-to-fore unknown standard that “if it’s less than 10%, it’s not plagiarism.”
In another apparent unfortunate incident, Representative Steve King (R-IA), in a pre-convention round table on MSNBC, in a response to a comment about the Republican Party being “old and white,” responded, “This whole ‘old white people’ business does get a little tired. I’d ask you to go back through history and figure out where are these contributions that have been made by these other categories of people that you are talking about? Where did any other subgroup of people contribute more to civilization?”
“Than white people?” round table moderator Chris Hayes asked.
Mr. King responded: “Than Western civilization itself that’s rooted in Western Europe, Eastern Europe and the United States of America, and every place where the footprint of Christianity settled the world. That’s all of Western civilization.”
In defense of Mr. King, the Trump campaign praised him for his candor and promised that immediately after the convention ended, as part of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” theme, it would form a new campaign committee, “Make America White Again” with Representative King as it’s chairman.
Oh yes, Willie Robertson of Duck Dynasty (the one with the beard) and Scott Baio of Happy Days (the one who used to be an actor) also spoke at the convention. Both are rumored to be Congressman King's first choices to join his committee.
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