Donald Trump, Jr. was easily the breakout star of Tuesday night’s slate of speakers at the Republican convention.
But just as he walked off stage, The Daily Show thought they discovered that Trump, Jr. had more in common with his family than just his name—that he’d lifted parts of his speech, this time from a column in The American Conservative.
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— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) July 20, 2016
Looks terrible, right? Especially in light of revelations that step-mom Melania also borrowed her speech from other sources.
It turns out, though, that while Trump, Jr.’s speechwriter did lift part of the passage, he lifted it from himself. Trump, Jr. hired conservative writer Frank Buckley to pen part of his convention speech, and Buckley thought what he’d written years before would be a perfect addition to a very typical Republican boilerplate speech.
As controversy swirled on Twitter, Buckley tried to halt the accusations.
Except it wasn't stealing…
— Frank Buckley (@fbuckley) July 20, 2016
Since you can’t, technically, plagiarize yourself, at least this Trump speechwriter is safe from criticism—though Trump, Jr. might want to ask for a partial refund for the part of his speech that was recycled.
