# The Republican national Convention **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 18, 2016, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729 "2016-06-18T21:53:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 32
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/621 "2016-07-20T03:42:28Z")
Lyin’ Melania still has the false claim of having a university degree on her website: [http://www.melaniatrump.com/my-world/](http://www.melaniatrump.com/my-world/) > [@](#): > > After obtaining a degree in design and architecture at University in Slovenia, Melania was jetting between photo shoots in Paris and Milan, finally settling in New York in 1996. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/622 "2016-07-20T03:49:44Z")
Lyin’ Melania’s website has other entertaining stuff. Her “research laboratory” figured out that the secret to stopping aging is smearing expensive caviar on your face. Of course, it is not any old caviar but caviar from the South of France where all the chic fish hang out. > [@](#): > > Through intense collaboration with Melania’s research laboratory, it was discovered that the secret to anti-aging can be explained in three distinct parts. > . > . > The Melania Collection is made of 100% pure Caviar Complexe C6™. These patent-pending formulas consist of caviar imported from a cultered sturgeon farm in the South of France. The quality control processes ensure that the caviar is harvested at optimal ripeness so as to maximize the nutrients and the formulation results. {Sorry. Forgot this is the RNC thread.} ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/623 "2016-07-20T03:53:24Z")
I’m sure that Wolf Blitzer was masturbating under the table when showing Tiffany Trump giving her speech. I’m surprised the girl could open her eyes with that much makeup on. Gotta give the Trumpster credit for marrying women with incredible cheekbones. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/624 "2016-07-20T04:04:03Z")
This story about Ben Carson’s speech is pretty funny–not least the photo: > **[Ben Carson Goes Rogue, Links Hillary Clinton to Lucifer](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/07/ben-carson-rnc-convention-lucifer)** > > Forget Benghazi. This conspiracy goes all the way to the bottom. Mark Shields was kind of sputtering about it being a “new low” afterwards, so it’s interesting to know he went off script there. > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > By the way, all of you who are mocking her accent: how many of you have addressed a national political convention, televised to the world, in a foreign language? > > Give her some credit - that is an impressive accomplishment in and of itself. > > When did being an immigrant to the US become a point of mockery? I agree with you, but there’s some irony there given the audience. And for that reason (among several others), I doubt this speech would have had the intended effect even without “PlagiarismGate”. > [@Eonwe](#): > > There’s no ‘goalpost shifting,’ because nobody, **nobody** had a problem with the fact that some other person might have written Melania’s speech. Well, hold on. It’s not my only problem by a long shot–but just earlier that day Melania [said pretty emphatically](http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-republican-convention-2016-live-melania-trump-says-she-wrote-convention-1468930159-htmlstory.html) that she personally “wrote it, and with as little help as possible”. And she just volunteered this, without being asked. I don’t think that kind of dishonesty is just a complete nothingburger. (Note too that at that link, Christie is still trying to insist that he thinks Melania “worked hard” on the speech, and that it sounds just like her.) > [@RickJay](#): > > Look, I despise Donald Trump, but… > > … I am not wholly convinced of the accusation of plagiarism. The allegedly stolen lines are not quite identical, and express general, vague sentiments common in such speeches. Having some commonality in wording and turns of phrase is to be expected. I am a staunch Democrat and consider myself solidly on the left (though some might disagree), but I think I have also established that I will call out left wing social media types when they make a big fuss over basically nothing. And I can easily imagine an alternate universe version of this brouhaha in which the similarities are not as uncanny, with just a few vague platitudes in common. But to have _this much_ [overlap](http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000535401), in the same order, is just too great a coincidence to be believed. In fact, I would love for someone like Nate Silver to calculate exactly how unlikely it would be to happen by coincidence. I’ve got to think it’s astronomical. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/625 "2016-07-20T04:19:58Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > In fact, I would love for someone like Nate Silver to calculate exactly how unlikely it would be to happen by coincidence. I’ve got to think it’s astronomical. [According to this, it is less than 1 in a trillion.](https://www.washingtonian.com/2016/07/19/we-ran-melania-trumps-speech-through-a-plagiarism-checker/) ---
**Author:** ![Club\_33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@Club\_33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Club_33)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/626 "2016-07-20T04:20:53Z")
Monday - Make America Afraid Again! Tuesday - Make America Angry Again! ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/627 "2016-07-20T04:23:46Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > By the way, all of you who are mocking her accent: how many of you have addressed a national political convention, televised to the world, in a foreign language? > > Give her some credit - that is an impressive accomplishment in and of itself. > > When did being an immigrant to the US become a point of mockery? Given Trump’s xenophobic treatment of journalist Jorge Ramos, who has US citizenship, I think it is fair game to turn the tables on team Trump. Remember Donald telling Jorge “Go back to Univision!” and then his people throwing Jorge out of the auditorium. > **[Donald Trump tells Jorge Ramos: "Go back to Univision"](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-tells-jorge-ramos-go-back-to-univision/)** > > The bombastic GOP frontrunner spars at a press conference with Spanish media's most well-known journalist ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/628 "2016-07-20T04:29:48Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#): > > Given Trump’s xenophobic treatment of journalist Jorge Ramos, who has US citizenship, I think it is fair game to turn the tables on team Trump. Remember Donald telling Jorge “Go back to Univision!” and then his people throwing Jorge out of the auditorium. > > [Election 2016: Donald Trump tells Jorge Ramos: "Go back to Univision" - CBS News](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-tells-jorge-ramos-go-back-to-univision/) Nah… “They did it first” is never a good idea… ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/629 "2016-07-20T04:32:57Z")
Wait, wasn’t this jobs night? Make America Work Again or something like that? Where were the jobs? Are we all going to be baying jurors in show trials or something? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/630 "2016-07-20T04:33:00Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > In fact, I would love for someone like Nate Silver to calculate exactly how unlikely it would be to happen by coincidence. I’ve got to think it’s astronomical. The number I’m hearing is [1 in 87 billion](http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-20/maths-on-melania-trump-speech/7643658). ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/631 "2016-07-20T04:40:01Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > Nah… > “They did it first” is never a good idea… It’s not a question of who did what first. The major appeal of his campaign is telling uneducated voters that “illegals” are ruining the country. Foreign people are bad. Of course, he overlooks his prejudices if they are hot models or business people he can swindle. Xenophobia, racism, and religious intolerance are cornerstones of his appeal. I happen to think it is fair game throwing that back at Team Trump. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/632 "2016-07-20T04:45:25Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > The best part is the varied, highly contrived explanations coming out of the campaign, the Trumpbots on news shows with varied, highly contrived explanations and GOP officials with varied, highly contrived explanations. > None of which _match_. > I’d swear there’s easily 15-20 different stories and excuses/rationalizations out there. > At least come up with one ridiculous excuse and have everyone stick to it. Kettle Logic: “Melania wrote it herself. And there was no plagiarism. Only 3% was plagiarized. But the speechwriters did it. Ergo, it’s all Hillary’s fault.” > [@SlackerInc](#): > > I am a staunch Democrat and consider myself solidly on the left (though some might disagree), but I think I have also established that I will call out left wing social media types when they make a big fuss over basically nothing. And I can easily imagine an alternate universe version of this brouhaha in which the similarities are not as uncanny, with just a few vague platitudes in common. But to have _this much_ [overlap](http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000535401), in the same order, is just too great a coincidence to be believed. In fact, I would love for someone like Nate Silver to calculate exactly how unlikely it would be to happen by coincidence. I’ve got to think it’s astronomical. “So never mind Manafort’s claim that there are a limited number of words in the English language. For Melania Trump to have gotten all 14 of those phrases, in the same order as Michelle Obama did at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, is a chance of 1 in 87 billion.” McGill University astrophysicist, Robert Rutledge [http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/288403-the-1-in-87-billion-chance-it-wasnt-plagiarism](http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/288403-the-1-in-87-billion-chance-it-wasnt-plagiarism) ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/633 "2016-07-20T04:55:19Z")
**Raventhief** and \*\*Robot Arm, \*\*thanks for those. Interestingly, those two analyses look at different aspects of the speeches. One is about the likelihood of a single sixteen word match (one in a trillion; a 23 word match as we see in just one section must be many orders of magnitude higher). The other says, never mind the likelihood of individual phrases matching: what about the fact that the 14 matching phrases are in precisely the same order? So I’m now thinking the true number is even higher than I would have guessed. A trillion squared at the very least. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/634 "2016-07-20T04:59:18Z")
> [@psychobunny](#): > > Well, the NYT is trying to get to the bottom of [speechgate](http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/how-melania-trump%E2%80%99s-speech-veered-off-course-and-sparked-an-uproar/ar-BBuxmOH?li=BBnb7Kz). The beautiful thing about this, is that Trump is well known for disdaining advice from “experts”, who of course would have spotted this and prevented it. Meanwhile the Trump diehards will all claim that he did it deliberately, that it was some kind of 5D Korean starcraft move that we’re all too stupid to understand. You’d think anyone with the most infinitesimal speck of self awareness would perhaps learn from this and realise that sometimes you really do need experts. I have zero expectation that will actually happen. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/635 "2016-07-20T05:08:11Z")
Why have both nights ended with nobodies speaking to an empty room? Did the world-class showman not take advice on how to schedule this either? You end with the headliner, not the opening acts. Melania should have been the last person to speak. Tonight should have ended with either Don Jr. or Chris Christie. (However disturbing his Revolutionary Court For The Denunciation Of Enemies Of The People was, it was better television than the avocado-farming washed-up soap actress.) ---
**Author:** ![67java89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/aeb1de/32.png) [@67java89](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/67java89)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/636 "2016-07-20T05:14:17Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > This story about Ben Carson’s speech is pretty funny–not least the photo: > > [Ben Carson Goes Rogue, Links Hillary Clinton to Lucifer | Vanity Fair](http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/07/ben-carson-rnc-convention-lucifer) He looks like Shawn Spencer having one of his psychic visions! ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/637 "2016-07-20T05:14:38Z")
So, apparently (The Daily Show FB page), Donald Trump Jr. borrowed a few lines from The American Conservative. This is just trolling, if so. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/638 "2016-07-20T05:17:02Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Why have both nights ended with nobodies speaking to an empty room? Because most of the big name Republican speakers want to have nothing to do with Donald. ---
**Author:** ![67java89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/aeb1de/32.png) [@67java89](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/67java89)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/639 "2016-07-20T05:17:11Z")
I find this entire family creepy. I can’t watch this stuff. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/640 "2016-07-20T05:23:49Z")
Regardless, it is fundamental political malpractice to let network cameras show an empty hall during prime time coverage. This will not happen next week–you can take that to the bank. > [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > So, apparently (The Daily Show FB page), Donald Trump Jr. borrowed a few lines from The American Conservative. > > This is just trolling, if so. It runs in the family! > [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729.md?page=31) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729.md?page=33)