Melania Trump was busy tweeting about Women’s History Month on March 1, as controversy regarding Melania’s EB-1 green card “Einstein Visa” emerged, as reported by the Inquisitr . But while some readers were soaking up news that day about Melania Knauss’ 1998 meeting with Donald Trump – and her March 2001 garnering of a green card – other meme-makers were busy using Melania’s Women’s History Month tweet in 2018 to claim that she borrowed words from former First Lady Michelle Obama.
According to Snopes , the accusations contained in the meme about Melania and Michelle are false. The below meme shows a photo of Melania, with words being attributed to the first lady from March 1. Below that photo of Melania is a photo of Michelle, with a quote being attributed to Obama from March 8, 2012. However, the words being attributed to Melania do not prove that Melania plagiarized Melania’s Women’s History Month statement. Nor could the publication determine that Michelle ever said the words attributed to Mrs. Obama in the meme.
However, the meme’s phrases were apparently rewritten to make it appear as though they were very similar. The plagiarism accusation stems from a real speech that Melania gave at the 2016 Republican National Convention, as reported by the Boston Herald – an incident that President Trump joked about in the wake of the controversy after it was uncovered that it was very similar to Michelle’s 2008 Democratic National Convention speech. But the most recent meme spreading around social media about Melania’s alleged plagiarizing is a hoax.
March starts #WomensHistoryMonth , a time to celebrate the ways American women have historically changed & continue to shape our society. As we also recognize #RedCrossMonth , we see the result of one woman’s call to action through the humanitarian relief efforts of the @Redcross
— Melania Trump 45 Archived (@FLOTUS45) March 1, 2018
Did First Lady Melania Trump plagiarize Michelle Obama’s statement on Women’s History Month? https://t.co/Z7j2Rdppan
— snopes.com (@snopes) March 5, 2018
On Facebook , feedback about the controversy has brought a variety of comments. Some commentators are noting that Trump supporters are sharing the Snopes article debunking the meme, without accusing Snopes of being an anti-Trump outlet.
Under the “ people are saying ” topic on Facebook, folks are writing about what an inconsequential matter that the meme is in relation to other things going on in the world outside of the Women’s History Month social media melee. Others who believe the meme are writing advice for no one to copy another person, but advising each person to expand their vocabulary via reading or other effective means of learning.
