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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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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