Simon Carswell: Melania Trump’s speech criticised for plagarism

Melania Trump earned praise for her speech on Monday at the opening night of the Republican National Convention, however it was not without controversy as it later emerged that parts of it appeared to have plagiarised Michelle Obama's speech to the Democratic national convention in 2008.

The much-anticipated address was starkly different from other speeches on a fiery opening night of the Republican national convention in Cleveland as speaker after speaker cast Mr Trump as a credible, no-nonsense leader who would deal with rising insecurity at home and abroad.

Plagarism

Mrs Trump’s speech aimed to soften the image of her husband by humanising him in personal terms.

However, the accusations of plagiarism from Mrs Obama’s speech eight years ago came quickly after the speech was over and overshadowed the intended message of Mrs Trump’s address.

“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,” said the billionaire’s wife.

“And we need to pass those lessons on to the many generations to follow. Because 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 said in 2008: “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.”

She continued: “And Barack and I set out to build our lives guided by these values, and to 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.”

Comparisons were quickly drawn on social media as the controversy went viral.

“Tbh [TO BE HONEST], I was more offended by just about every other speech than Melania’s plagiarized paragraphs,” former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau tweeted, referring to the incendiary remarks of other speakers on the night.

Trump’s campaign team later responded to the criticism by issuing a statement saying: “In writing her beautiful speech, Melania’s team of writers took notes on her life’s inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking.

“Melania’s immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech, which made it such a success.”

“Make America Safe Again”

Hillary Clinton, who will be confirmed as Mr Trump's presidential election rival next week at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, was the target of vicious attacks as the speakers talked up the billionaire's hard-man credentials on the theme of the opening night, "Make America Safe Again," a recently adopted campaign slogan in the wake of mass shootings and terror attacks in the US and overseas.

True to his entertainment roots, Mr Trump made a spectacular entrance for his first appearance in the convention into the Quicken Loans Arena.

He broke with convention by speaking before the final night and chose to introduce his former supermodel wife who would be the first foreign-born first lady in almost 200 years.

The former reality-TV walked onto the stage in silhouette against a cloudy glow of silver-blue light to the Queen song, We Are The Champions.

“We’re going to win so big,” he declared, before inviting his wife to the stage as “the next first lady of the United States of America.”

First of Trump family testimonials

Mrs Trump (46) delivered the first of the Trump family testimonials planned for the four-day convention aimed at smoothing her husband’s roughness and to broaden his appeal before he accepts the party’s presidential nomination on Thursday night.

“Donald intends to represent all the people, not just some of the people,” said Mr Trump’s Slovenian-born immigrant wife in a thick accent, pronouncing her husband’s name as “Tromp.”

“That includes Christians and Jews and Muslims; it includes Hispanics and African Americans and Asians; and the poor and the middle class.”

Against the backdrop of her husband’s staunchly anti-immigrant campaign, Mrs Trump, the billionaire’s third wife who rarely speaks publicly, talked of her own immigrant background and how becoming an American citizen a decade ago was “the greatest privilege on planet Earth.”

Mrs Trump’s speech was short on personal anecdotes about her husband and long on generalisations and platitudes about her husband’s character traits as a partner and father.

Speakers

Despite the focus on national security, an eclectic assortment of speakers included a reality TV star and a sitcom actor.

In keeping with the businessman’s staunchly nationalist and anti-Clinton campaign, parents of murder victims killed by illegal immigrants spoke.

So did the mother of one of the Americans killed in the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya on Mrs Clinton's watch as secretary of state.

An animated Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, won the prize for loudest audience response of the night as he painted a bleak picture of a fearful United States and angrily defended police from accusations of racial discrimination against the black community.

“When they come to save your life, they don’t ask if you are black or white. They just come to save you,” he shouted, bringing thousands of Republicans to their feet.

Mr Giuliani said that the “vast majority of Americans don’t feel safe,” pointing to the recent terror attacks and blaming the violence on Islamic extremist terrorism.

“You know who you are and we’re coming to get you,” he said to raucous applause.

Reaction to speech

While the crowd responded warmly to Mrs Trump’s speech, there were some dissenting views on the convention floor about how the would-be first lady came to the US.

Betsy Close, a state senator from Oregon, objected to how the billionaire’s wife received a visa through Mr Trump’s modelling agency, something normally reserved for high-tech and skilled workers.

“I just think there is a little bit of hypocrisy there,” she said. “To be against people entering illegally but to game the visa system as they did, that bothers me.”

Hossein Khorram, a Muslim American delegate from Washington state, thought Mrs Trump’s speech “lovely” in that it showed a more human side to the businessman.

“That’s what needed to happen,” he said.

“Democrats have demonised them. They have painted the picture which does not resemble who he is. They are resembling him as a monster. He is a human. He is a father.”