We Asked Trump Voters About Melania’s Plagiarism Scandal. Their Answers Were Amazing.

“She was probably the greatest speaker I have ever heard.”

 

Melania Trump spoke to the Republican National Convention Monday night, extolling her husband’s virtues and telling the nation about how her parents taught her the importance of hard work and keeping your word. But Trump did something else with her speech: She, or her speechwriter, may have lifted whole chunks out of Michelle Obama’s speech from the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

We set out Tuesday morning to ask Trump supporters what they thought about Melania Trump’s speech, the alleged plagiarism, and how it will (or won’t) affect their support for Trump.

“Unfortunately, Michelle Obama does not have an exclusive ownership to the way she was raised,” said Jennifer Beckon, a Republican National Convention delegate from Texas. “I think lots of us can say we had those exact same moments with our parents.”

“I like to quote famous quotes myself,” said Keith Kokal, a 60-year-old business owner and Trump supporter. “Maybe that’s what happened to her.”

CNN put together a video showing the similarities between the two speeches:

 

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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