Perhaps Melania Trump’s plagiarized speech wasn’t just a screw-up, but part of a plot to minimize her role in her husband’s campaign.
The portions of her speech that appear to have been lifted nearly word for word from Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2008 weren’t the only eyebrow-raising portion of Melania’s remarks. She also dropped a not-so-subtle reference to Rick Astley (the mashup is worth your time), prompting many to ask: who’s rickrolling who here?
The “tell” isn’t the plagiarized part; it’s the Rick Roll: https://t.co/SQNBx1H8am It’s like they signed their work.
— Mike Cosper (@MikeCosper) July 19, 2016
Steve Schale takes the theory a step further, suggesting it’s unlikely the Trump campaign is the political equivalent of a child running with scissors, and that the screw-up was probably intentional.
Whoever wrote Melania Trump’s speech knew what they were doing – they were sabotaging the moment. They wrote a speech that they knew cribbed not only from Michelle Obama, but also from Rick Astley — the latter of which is the dead giveaway. And honeslty if they didn’t do it as intentional sabotage, then the Trump campaign is a bigger goat show than we all thought.
Ousted Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski wasted no time in hitting the airwaves to call out his rival Paul Manafort — who was a fixer for a shady Ukranian oligarch before deciding to Make America Great Again.
On CNN, Lewandowski says Manafort should resign if he signed off on Melania Trump speech. pic.twitter.com/rpUn4SWdrE
— Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) July 19, 2016
Perhaps the disaster of a speech is part of an intentional effort by Manafort, et al., to minimize Melania or get her out of the picture altogether. The Trump campaign had reportedly reached out to veteran speechwriters John McConnell and Matthew Scully to prepare Melania’s remarks, but later trashed the draft the duo delivered. The speech Melania delivered Monday night “bore no resemblance” to the one McConnell and Scully prepared, according to The Washington Post.
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” reported that Manafort had tasked one of his trusted advisers to write a speech for her and signed off on the final, disastrous draft. Manafort and his team have been reportedly telling members of the press Melania was the one who added in the plagiarized portions of the speech.
LATEST: What we know right now about how Melania Trump’s speech flap unfolded https://t.co/q4JM4vtvhT
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) July 19, 2016
Melania has been reportedly frustrated at Donald’s children and Manafort for pressuring her husband into selecting Mike Pence for a running mate — which could be enough motive for Trump’s right-hand man to sabotage her.
Regardless of who is responsible for the speech, things are not looking good over at the Trump camp, as it seems to be plagued with either revenge-seeking speech ruiners or morons.