Thank you Republican National Convention \u2026 thank you, thank you thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Going into the week I wasn\u2019t sure what, if anything, I was going to write in terms of a commentary\/editorial. But in just one day, the RNC has offered up material to last at least a month \u2026 probably longer. So, where to begin?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OK, let\u2019s begin with what\u2019s being talked about, mocked, ridiculed most \u2026 the \u201cspeech\u201d of Mrs. Melania Trump\u202c. So, um, well, um \u2026 so it seems Mrs. Trump may have borrowed<\/em> a bit of her opening night speech from an obscure speech given by a not so well known person at a far, tucked away venue to an audience of two or three people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Huh? What\u2019s that you say? Oh, my bad. Let me rephrase that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So it seems Melania Trump, wife of Donald Trump, stole<\/em> \u2026 completely ripped off \u2026 a major portion of Michelle Obama\u2019s 2008 Democratic National Convention speech. Obama\u2019s speech was seen by millions and resonated with many because of its tone and depth \u2026 and because of the moment. Remember, the nation was on the cusp of electing either its first Black president or first woman vice president. Prior to the speech Michelle Obama was being characterized as the \u201cangry Black woman.\u201d At the time, the speech was lauded as one of the more powerful, authentic<\/em>, speeches given by the spouse of a presidential candidate. It struck a chord with much of the nation. Craig Crawford of CQ Politics<\/em> called her speech, \u201cMasterful.\u201d Andrew Sullivan of the Atlantic<\/em> said it was \u201cOne of the best, most moving, intimate, rousing, humble, and beautiful speeches I\u2019ve heard from a convention platform.\u201d He later went on to say, \u201cMaybe she<\/em> should be running for president.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And within that speech, Michelle Obama said \u2026 and I quote \u2026 \u201cAnd Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values \u2026 like you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond<\/em>, that you do what you say you\u2019re going to do, that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don\u2019t know them and even if you don\u2019t agree with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Monday night, Melania Trump said \u2026 and again, I quote \u2026 \u201cFrom 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now poor Melania stole more of Michelle\u2019s Obama\u2019s speech, but let\u2019s focus on this part for a minute and in particular the phrase, \u201cthat your word is your bond.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ll admit, I wasn\u2019t really watching \u2026 I was listening. While Melania Trump was speaking, on my tablet the St. Louis Cardinals were in the middle of a great offensive inning and my attention was mostly focused on back-to-back homers from my hometown team. But while listening I heard something that caused my neck to turn so fast that I\u2019m sure it caused mild whiplash. What I heard was a favorite saying of my grandmother \u2026 it was a favorite saying of many Black people\u2019s grandmothers \u2013 your word is your bond<\/em>. I\u2019m sure Jarrett Hill, the African-American journalist who is credited with first reporting the word \u201ctheft,\u201d heard it from his grandmother. Hill, who contributes to the Huffington Post<\/em> and others, called out Trump via his Twitter account. Over the years the phrase has been shortened to the hip-hop vernacular, \u201cword is bond.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Michelle Obama offered the line she was talking to the nation, but she was speaking to us. It was sort of code to let us know she and Brother Barack were still down. We caught on, but the masses probably didn\u2019t have a clue to the hidden message. Hell, I feel I\u2019m offering up too much information now. In the streets, it\u2019d be called out for dry snitching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But I offer this up only to say that<\/em> of all the lines Melania could have ripped, she (OK, let\u2019s be real, her speech writers) stole that<\/em> line. And I\u2019m sure it was that line that alerted Hill to the outright plagiarism of Donald Trump\u2019s wife. Following Melania\u2019s speech, commentators remarked that the woman born in Slovenia speaks five languages, but it\u2019s clear she\u2019s not yet versed in the language of my people. But to quote Kevin Hart, \u201cyou gon\u2019 learn today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the moment weren\u2019t so big and the stakes weren\u2019t so high, I could fully revel in the comedy \u2026 the absurdity of it all. But the moment is this big \u2026 the stakes are so high. To dismiss Melania Trump\u2019s speech as an \u201coops\u201d moment is to dismiss and downplay Trump and his team\u2019s lack of readiness and downright incompetence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking on CNN, Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort said \u2026 and I quote \u2026 \u201cTo think that she would do something like that knowing how scrutinized her speech was going to be is just really absurd.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that\u2019s exactly my point. Knowing the importance of that<\/em> speech and that<\/em> moment, you mean to tell me no one vetted the words Mrs. Trump was to utter? And \u2026 to my point earlier, it wasn\u2019t like she stole some obscure passage. She stole from our current first lady who masterfully delivered those exact words<\/em> during the 2008 Democratic National Convention. If this is the level of intelligence gathering we\u2019d see in a Trump administration when it comes to far more serious matters of say \u2026 national security, then God help us all. This was the simplest of tasks and Team Trump failed miserably. This man is not ready to lead \u2026 period. And to think he is, is idiotic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For comedians, the Trump campaign is the gift that keeps on giving. For the rest of us, it\u2019s our worst nightmare. It\u2019s a horror movie with a farfetched plot and in the end no one survives. Oh how I wish this was just another Hollywood flop. But in reality, this is the 2016 presidential campaign; and in Donald Trump, this is the man Republicans selected to lead their party and possibly the nation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Again, God help us all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thank you Republican National Convention \u2026 thank you, thank you thank you. Going into the week I wasn\u2019t sure what, if anything, I was going to write in terms of a commentary\/editorial. But in just one day, the RNC has offered up material to last at least a month \u2026 probably longer. So, where to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4702,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[67,2546,2888],"class_list":["post-4701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-donald-trump","tag-melania-trump","tag-republican-national-convention","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Insight-News-Website-Images-11-4.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4701"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4703,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4701\/revisions\/4703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}