Melania Trump earlier this year (left), Michelle Obama back in 2008 (right).
It looks like Donald Trump’s Federal Election Commission filings are a treasure trove of hilarious facts, ranging from big items like the suddenly rising rent for the campaign headquarters at Trump Tower, to small items like $356.01 for a speech written by Meredith McIver, a Trump Organization employee.
Yup, that speech, the one given by Melania Trump at the Republican convention, the one that the third wife of the supposed billionaire wrote by herself with a little help, the one that comes across like thesaurus-aided plagiarism in side-by-side comparisons with Michelle Obama’s 2008 Democratic convention speech.
Now, to a lot of people, $356.01 might seem like a reasonable fee to write a speech someone else will deliver. But to be a public scapegoat for plagiarism, to pretend to fall on my sword for Donald Trump so he can look magnanimous, for that you'd have to pay me at least a million dollars.
And who knows, maybe McIver does get paid a 6-figure salary from the Trump Organization. Since that is a private corporation, Donald Trump has no legal obligation to disclose McIver’s salary, and we know very well the Drumpf is not one to disclose financial information when he’s not legally obligated to do so.
Part of the reason I feel the Schadenfreude here is so well justified is that a few months before the convention, Melania Trump gave an interview on national television in which she presented herself as a paragon of morality when it comes to immigration. So you came to this country legally as an adult? La-di-dah, good for you. And you never overstayed your visa? Again, la-di-dah, good for you.
Somehow I get the feeling that European fashion models don’t experience the capriciousness of the American immigration system quite the same way as just about any other immigrant. Add to that Melania Trump’s ignorance of or callousness toward children of immigrants. Do you want a Mexican boy Barron’s age to say to his mother: “No, Mommy, I won’t follow you across the border, that’s illegal.”
Lots of people say that a candidate’s wife and children are off-limits. But in my opinion, from the moment Melania Trump publicly presented herself as a shining example of good morals, she made herself fair game for us to make inferences about her husband’s values based on hers.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter whether McIver is the real author of the speech (the FEC filing doesn’t actually say what the fee to McIver is for, according to Rebecca Ballhaus writing for the Wall Street Journal), Melania Trump has been dishonest before the public.
And the payment amount reflects poorly on the campaign either way: if McIver wrote the speech, she’s vastly underpaid (casual googling around suggests she should have been paid at least $1,000); if she didn’t write it, the fee for the unspecified service is essentially a lie with plausible deniability built in.
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