Donald Trump Finally Responded to Melania's Speech Controversy
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Donald Trump finally responded to the accusations that Melania Trump plagiarized her 2016 Republican National Convention speech from First Lady Michelle Obama, and the Republican nominee for president made a point about his campaign that's hard to deny.
Initially, neither Trump nor his campaign manager Paul Manafort admitted that Melania Trump's speech, which very closely mirrored portions of Obama's 2008 Democratic National Convention address, was actually plagiarized.
However, on Wednesday afternoon Trump staff writer Meredith McIver took responsibility for inserting the plagiarized portions of the speech. McIver, who co-authored Trump's "Think Like a Billionaire," reportedly offered to resign because over her mistake, but the campaign would not accept it.
Although this all may be embarrassing, negative publicity seems to only help Trump's campaign this election cycle. Market Watch reports that by May Trump had received $3 billion in free advertising from news coverage, compared to only $1.1 billion for his opponent, Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Trump has called undocumented workers from Mexico "rapists."
"They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists and some, I assume, are good people,” Trump said when he announced he was running for president last year.
He's also called for a ban on Muslim immigration more than once.
Besides the rhetoric with racist and xenophobic undertones, Trump has been accused of impersonating his own spokesman, eavesdropping on phone calls between guests and staff at his luxury private club in Florida, and he also refused to make his tax returns public.
Despite these and other controversial moments, Trump still "wins" the news cycle, as The New York Times pointed out.
“He is the first candidate to truly take advantage of the fact we are an A.D.D. society,’’ said Republican communications strategist J. Tucker Martin to The New York Times. “He moves so quick and creates outrages so fast, you almost forget what happened.’’
