The media is trying to block the message coming out of the Republican Party’s national convention by focusing on the claim that Melania Trump borrowed language from a speech originally given by Michelle Obama, a Virginia Republican said on Tuesday.
“We had several great speakers address the war and homeland security,” Rep. Dave Brat told the Washington Examiner. “We have the immigration issue, the wide open southern border, and the refugee crisis across Europe showing us exactly what will happen if we don’t get our act in order.”
“England just had the Brexit. France is awash in trouble,” he added. “Germany is in crisis. In Italy and Greece, it may be too late already. The evidence is at hand. That was the thesis statement and theme for the evening.”
“And then we wake up to hear the press, when we’re at war, bring up plagiarism charges about three paragraphs of political language that may have been borrowed from another speech, as if it’s the first time it ever happened in Western civilization,” Brat said.
Melania, the wife of presidential contender Donald Trump, delivered a speech at the party’s national convention on Monday that appeared to include language originally delivered by President Obama’s wife at the 2008 Democratic convention.
Brat discounted the incident and said the media had displayed far less interest when Obama in 2008 was accused of failing to give credit for language he borrowed from former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.
“The hypocrisy is one thing,” Brat said. “I did a Ph.D in economics. We’re not in academia here. We’re giving political speeches. I don’t think it’s really about footnoting every idea or phrase that’s been used in the political lexicon for 2,000 years, where we should be afraid of using other people’s ideas.”
“We’re at war with ISIS,” he added. “No one seems to be aware of this fact. Tim Kaine, Democratic senator from Virginia, is asking for an [authorization of military force], so he is acknowledging that we are at war and we should, as a Congress, authorize the use of force for this war. But you wouldn’t know it from the press coverage.”
The issue with the speech, Brat said, is “purely trivial. We should get by this whole issue, and start to focus on the main issues driving the chaos in the world … I think that’s why Trump is having such a positive response across the country. People are just sick of the media bias and all out falsehoods that are clouding the major issues that we have to confront as a nation.”
