Mere hours after the third Ms. Trump took the stage at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, members of the media were tripping over themselves to point out the weird similarities between Michelle Obama’s speech in 2008 and Ms. Trump’s speech last night.
"Here is the graph in question from Melania Trump's speech: 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 life.”
Here is the graph from Obama's 2008 speech.
“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,” Michelle Obama said, according to a transcript from CNN.
CNN has a good side-by-side video to see how similar they were:
The scandal is comedy gold for Twitter. More than one person, including Sonia Saraiya, wondered if the speech was an elaborate joke on the Trumps by a campaign speechwriter. Proof? A line from the infamous Rick Astley song, “Never Gonna Give You Up” made it into Melania's speech: "He will never, ever give up. And most importantly, he will never, ever let you down.”
But to reiterate (and to paraphrase @tvoti), the real speechwriter's scandal here is this ACTUAL RICKROLL?!?!?!?!?! pic.twitter.com/eSuFbbVs43
— mr. sonia (@soniasaraiya) July 19, 2016
And that's not all: The hashtag #FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes was soon the number one trending topic.
A sampling:
"It was hard growing up as a black woman on the south side of Chicago"#FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes#RNCConventionpic.twitter.com/lfv1jtCO5j
— Leslie Wimes (@WomenOnTheMove1) July 19, 2016
"I did not have sexual relations with that woman."—#FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes
— J Bernard Jones (@JBernardJones) July 19, 2016
"As God as my witness, I'll never go hungry again."#famousMelaniaTrumpquotes
— Frank DeCaro (@frankdecaroshow) July 19, 2016
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness...#FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes
— Cornelia (@PaladinCornelia) July 19, 2016
And:
"Are you not entertained?!"#FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotespic.twitter.com/vfYkNlMV8S
— Cody Decker (@Decker6) July 19, 2016
Yes, yes we are.