Donld Trump's wife Melania made a splash at this year’s Republican National Convention with a captivating and strangely familiar speech. After the internet caught wind that some of her remarks were lifted from First Lady Michelle Obama’s 2008 Democratic National Convention address, the world had a field day, but there's still some debate about whether or not Melania's actions constitute plagiarism.
According to Twitter spokesperson Nick Pacilio, Melania was the most talked about RNC speaker on Monday, outpacing both Rudy Giuliani and Scott Baio.
Actor and noted woke bae Jesse Williams created the cheeky hashtag #FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes and jokingly attributed Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I A Woman” speech to Melania, inspiring a bevy of memes.
In response to the accusations, Melania issued the following statement:
Many conservatives rushed to defend Melania, especially those in her husband’s camp. On Tuesday, Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson said, “This concept that Michelle Obama invented the English language is absurd.” Trump’s campaign manager Paul Manafort also called the accusations “absurd” and even tried to blame the controversy on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. “This is once again an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton, how she seeks out to demean her and take her down,” he said. There are currently no mentions of Melania’s speech on Clinton’s social accounts.
When asked if Melania’s remarks constituted plagiarism, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie responded: "Not when 93 percent of the speech is completely different than Michelle Obama’s speech."
Since there's still some confusion about what plagiarism is and how it works, Complex decided to ask those who deal with plagiarism and its consequences almost every day: teachers.
We asked teachers from all over the country what they’d do if Melania Trump was their student and turned in last night’s speech as a paper. Here’s what they had to say:
Carrie Murphy, adjunct composition and literature instructor in Albuquerque, New Mexico:
Justin Tindall, former 4th grade bilingual teacher in San Antonio, Texas, imagined how he'd speak to Melania if she were his student:
Nupur Shridhar, robotics/design teacher in Providence, Rhode Island:
Julie Schumacher, former middle school history, civics, and journalism teacher in Chicago, Illinois and Los Angeles, California: