Melania Trump gave her first public speech since the Republican National Convention, when she was accused of plagiarising Michelle Obama. Despite overcoming the national embarrassment of stealing words directly from the First Lady, Ms Trump faces those accusations yet again.
But this time she is accused of stealing a line from Mr Trump’s second wife, Marla Maples.
Speaking at a campaign event in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, Ms Trump made her case for why voters should choose her husband.
“He will make fantastic president of the United States, “ she said.
She highlighted her love for the US shared with her husband, and recalled her life back in Slovenia, before immigrating in the 1990s.
“It was a beautiful childhood. My parents were wonderful,” she said. “Of course we all knew about this incredible place called ‘America’. …
“America meant, if you could dream it, you could become it.”
Tablet Magazine’s Yair Rosenberg first pointed out the line, apparently lifted from a 2011 interview with Ms Maples.
“Even though I was from a small town of 500 people, I learned to dance, play clarinet, and play trumpet, all while playing every sport I was allowed to as a southern-born tomboy,” Ms Maples, who was married to Mr Trump from 1993 to 1999, said. “I believed if you could dream it, you could become it…”
Ms Trump came under fire during the RNC in July after she recited a near-verbatim passage from Ms Obama’s 2008 speech.
“From a young age, my parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life,” she said. “That your word is your bond, and you do what you say and keep your promise. That you treat people with respect. They taught and showed me values and morals in their daily life.
“That is a message that I continue to pass along to our son. And we need to pass those lessons onto the many generations to follow. Because we want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them
In her speech Ms Obama said: “That is a message that I continue to pass along to our son. And we need to pass those lessons onto the many generations to follow. Because we want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.
“And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values and to pass them onto the next generation, because we want our children – and all children in this nation – to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for them."
