Elections

‘Not The America I Know’: Trump Jr. Accuses Obama Of Plagiarism

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Phillip Stucky Political Reporter
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Donald Trump Jr. tweeted Thursday afternoon demanding to know why there was no outrage when President Barrack Obama used the phrase, “That’s not the America I know” in his speech Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention. Trump Jr. used the same phrase in his Republican National Convention speech last week.

“I’m honored that POTUS would plagiarize a line from my speech last week. Where’s the outrage?” Donald Trump Jr. tweeted. The phrase in question is one that political candidates use with fair regularity.

“That is not the America I know,” Trump Jr. said in reference to what policies need to change, while Obama used the phrase to discuss the types of attacks Donald Trump uses in speeches and on Twitter.

Both Trump Jr. and Melania Trump were the center of intense media scrutiny during their speeches at the RNC.

Trump Jr. was criticized by “The Daily Show” for uttering the phrases, “What should be an elevator to the upper classes is stalled on the ground floor,” and “Our schools and Universities are like the old Soviet department stores whose mission was to serve the interests of the sales clerks, and not the customers” at the RNC.

These phrases first appeared in “The Conservative American” written by F.H. Buckley. Buckley came to Trump’s defense, arguing that since he wrote the portion of the speech that contained the words, it wasn’t stealing.

Melania Trump was criticized because two paragraphs of her RNC speech introducing Donald Trump were similar to two paragraphs in First Lady Michelle Obama’s 2008 DNC introduction speech for her husband.

Melania’s speech included the words, “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.”

While Michelle Obama’s speech included the words, “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.”

Although the two statements are similar in ideas, they are not identical. It isn’t rare for a political candidate to assign the character traits of hard work, honesty, integrity, and respect to themselves, either justly or unjustly.

“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,” Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller previously told USA Today. “Melania’s immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech, which made it such success.”

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