Donald Trump Jr.’s Tuesday night RNC address was supposed to be a reset button for the family, after Melania Trump was found to have lifted six sentences of her Monday speech from Michelle Obama. While Trump’s oldest son’s speech avoided plagiarizing a member of the Obama family, it does appear to contain lines lifted from an American Conservative essay written by F.H. Buckley and published in May of this year. The Daily Show, which needed a win after not being nominated for an Emmy for the first time in thirteen years, was the first to spot the similarity:
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) July 20, 2016
You can watch Donald Trump Jr. read Buckley’s words at the 7:45 mark here:
But Buckley cryptically suggested that the words were used with permission on his Twitter account:
Except it wasn't stealing...
— Frank Buckley (@fbuckley) July 20, 2016
And then confirmed to Business Insider that he worked on Donald Trump Jr.’s speech with him:
F.H. Buckley tells @businessinsider: "I was a speechwriter for this speech. So I'm afraid there's no issue here."
— Brett LoGiurato (@BrettLoGiurato) July 20, 2016
Recycling and self-plagiarism are also both frowned upon but with that, the dream of a second Trump plagiarism scandal died.
This post has been updated.