If the campaign had said, “Wow, we can’t believe we let that get through. We’ve fired the writer who did the plagiarism,” it would be much less of an issue. It would be a very surprising response considering the antics we’ve gotten used to, but it would be a much better response (even tactful, even respectful but when have we seen either of those qualities from the Trump campaign).
That they’re trying to deny plagiarism is predictable (they’ve used this denial-sledgehammer for everything and it has worked so far) but it’s beyond absurd. We’ve got the speeches side by side. They changed phrasing like “Barack and I” (which would be a giveaway), cut out a few words that added nuance, added a minute reference to Melania and Trump’s son, and changed “reach of their dreams” to “strength of their dreams.” It’s trying to take away markers that would indicate Michelle while keeping Michelle’s phrasing and sentiment, it’s not even well masked, and it’s beyond arrogant that they thought they’d get away with this in such a contentious and technologically connected election.
What upsets me is that I know people will take Trump’s denial at face value, and continue to say that he will be a straightforward, honest anti-politician, and this plagiarism really is (somehow, who knows how, but who cares) Clinton’s fault.