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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It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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