Melania Trump stole Michelle Obama’s remarks and called them her own

Incredible, but Melania Trump, who spoke as the highlight of the first night of the Republican convention in Cleveland, copied sections almost verbatim from Michelle Obama’s speech in 2008.

There was initial sympathy for Melania, but let’s face it folks, Michelle Obama was given a very hard time by the GOP when she was running for First Lady.

Melana may be beautiful, a model and an immigrant, but the fact is she stole directly from and plagiarized Michelle Obama, of all people. Also, she claimed on NBC she had written it herself.

Melania Trump plagiarized Michelle Obama tonight, and here's the video to prove it: pic.twitter.com/gCDeJL04zY
— (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) July 19, 2016

Trump’s entire schtick has been to be Mr Tell The Truth, Tell It How It Is and now he is faced with what is, at the very least, a huge mistake by his campaign.

The convention's opening night also included Hillary Clinton being denounced from the stage and several times being told that she should be in jail. She was apparently responsible for four deaths in Benghazi, even though eight different inquiries absolved her, including several run by Republicans. Maybe Melania should join her.

Here is part of the plagiarized piece:

From Melania: “My parents impressed on me the value of 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. Show the values and morals in in the daily life. That is the lesson that we continue to pass on to our son.

"We need to pass those lessons on to the many generations to follow. [Cheering] Because we want our children in these nations to know that the only limit to your achievement is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.

And this is from Michelle 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.

“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 similarity was first pointed out by Jarrett Hill on Twitter.

It certainly overshadowed the first night of the convention which may be no bad thing. After the first night I would not have been surprised if millions of Americans bolted under the bed and didn’t come out until next week.

Fear and loathing were rampant in every speech with the exception of Melania Trump, who actually did quite well with a strong message about family and friends—until the Michelle Obama link emerged.

Despite the handwringing and dire warnings crime is actually down. As NPR noted: According to a 2015 study from the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, crime rates are actually down from last year and half what they were in 1990.”

Half the crimes. Yet, listening to the GOP it seems you are in mortal danger if you step outside your door and ISIS is ready to pounce.

Incredibly, though they continue to evoke his name, the GOP has still not learnt the key message of Ronald Reagan.

Congenitally optimistic and upbeat, Reagan had no time for the naysayers and the doom and gloom merchants.

He would surely have cleared the floor the first night of the GOP convention and restored some optimism and sunniness to the proceedings.

Reagan won with a positive message, not one of sheer vitriol which the GOP was bottling and selling on Monday night like snake oil salesmen. Amazing that the GOP are ignoring the best lesson of all from the Gipper.