Trump under pressure to fire someone over his wife’s plagiarism

Pressure is mounting on Donald Trump to dismiss those responsible for plagiarism in the primetime speech at the Republican National Convention by his wife, Melania.

Melania Trump’s Monday address to the Republicans contained similarities to a 2008 convention speech by US President Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle.

According to Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, the speech text must have been signed off by his once-rival, Paul Manafort, who, he argued, should resign.

“I think Paul needs to take a deep look inside and understand what the process was; make sure the protocols were in place… and whoever signed off… that allowed this to go forward should be held accountable,” he told CNN.

He added that if he was the last person to see the text he should “do the right thing and resign.”

“If he was the last person who saw this happen and has brought this on the candidate’s wife, I think he would resign because I think that’s the type of person he would be.”

The plagiarism controversy dominated news coverage Monday night and Tuesday, marring the Trump campaign’s first day of the GOP gathering, in which angry Never Trump campaigners also did their best to disrupt his nomination process.

According to Florida Republican Representative Ron DeSantis, the plagiarism is “unfortunate” for the GOP.

“You can’t lift passages,” DeSantis told the Hill. “It’s not what you want to happen, obviously, so there was a breakdown somewhere. ... But you shouldn’t try to say, ‘Oh, who cares.’ You shouldn’t do that. Just be honest with it and say it was a mistake and figure out a way to correct it.”

The Trump campaigners have vehemently rejected the allegations, with Manafort, claiming the similarities occurred due to “common words and values.”.

He suggested that Melania is not “crazy” to copy the First Lady’s words “in front of 35 million people.”

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus also believed the speech writer should resign.

"I don't blame her," Priebus told Bloomberg. "Some of these things are pretty common types of themes."

In her speech, the Slovenian-born model tried to soften her husband’s divisive tone, saying, as president, he “intends to represent all the people, not just some of the people.”

Her effort, however, has apparently failed given the media was distracted by her plagiarism.

“It was 15 minutes long and less than a minute was similar to Michelle’s speech so it’s not really an issue with me,” Tennessee Republican Representative Scott DesJarlais told the Hill. “When talking about loyalty to family, there are only so many ways to say it. Most have already been said by someone.”

Plagiarism, however, has apparently influenced the potential First Lady’s favorability in the eyes of the American voters.

Even before her speech, a poll by Gallup showed that she enjoyed the worst favorable ratings of any potential First Lady in the firm’s polling over the last two decades.

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