It’s easy to understand why Donald Trump opted to deploy four of his children and one of his wives on the Republican convention stage in Cleveland this week. For many sceptical voters, his immigrant wife, professional daughters and all American sons reflect the best of the Trump family. And then there was the small matter of so many senior Republicans refusing to share a stage with such a divisive candidate. At least you can rely on family.
Just one problem. If something goes wrong, there’s nowhere to hide. It is difficult to disown your wife if she makes a blunder in her speech (even for a man who knows a thing or two about divorce laws).
So what do you do when your wife’s speech appears to mimic the lines of another prospective first lady? Melania’s version ran: ‘From a young age, my parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond; that you do what you say.’ While in 2008 this is what Michelle Obama had to say: ‘Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: like, you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond; that you do what you say you’re going to do.’
Tricky.
But first things first. This is not Melania’s problem. She is not a natural stump speaker. It is impressive that she does it at all, elegantly picking her way through a language that is far from her first tongue. The idea that she plagiarised the speech is nonsensical. Far more likely that she worked with a team of writers to put her ideas into words, something acknowledged as much in the campaign’s denial of anything untoward.
But there is a deeper problem for Trump. While his appeal lies in his straight talking, anti-politician spiel, there is a sense that beneath the service lies smoke and mirrors. Take Trump University, the property mogul’s attempt to pass on his business skills to a paying audience. Only it turned out the audience complained they were sold short and launched a slew of legal actions. Trump Steaks turned out to be someone else’s steak with a different label. And so many of those Trump businesses are actually licensing deals, allowing Mr Trump to sell his name to other companies with little other connection.
In that context, rebranding Mrs Obama’s words as part of the Trump empire are part of a pattern of hoovering up other people’s ideas. It’s just business. Only this is politics. Joe Biden’s run at the 1988 Democratic nomination combusted when it emerged he had borrowed heavily from a Neil Kinnock speech – ‘why is it that Joe Biden is the first in his family ever to go to a university? Why is it that my wife who is sitting out there in the audience is the first in her family to ever go to college? Is it because our fathers and mothers were not bright?’
It’s all very well being the anti-politician and the unconventional candidate. But what sort of man lets his nearest and dearest get caught out?
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