The Dumbest ‘Journalism’ About Melania Trump’s RNC Speech

Melania Trump’s primetime speech at the Republican National Convention caused a media feeding frenzy after a journalist alleged that she plagiarized phrases from Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech at the Democratic National Convention.

While the RNC entered its second day, when her husband Donald Trump would officially become the party’s presidential nominee, various “objective” news outlets blew up Melania’s speech into a massive scandal, hounding top RNC officials for answers.

As is often the case in a high-traffic controversy, this led to tons of hot takes and downright silly questions–with even sillier “experts” called in for analysis. Here are today’s worst offenders:

1. CNN profiled the man who first made the claim that parts of Mrs. Trump’s speech were plagiarized, and Brooke Baldwin brought him on air for an interview:

2. CNN also seemed to think that heads should roll:

3. Politico‘s Blake Hounshell hunted down the details of how Jeb Bush announced his doomed presidential campaign:

Others noted that the would-be first lady’s remarks — delivered Monday night at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland — didn’t seem to have gotten the same level of scrubbing as, for instance, just one of the speakers teed up for Jeb Bush’s announcement of his presidential bid.

4. The Washington Post–with the triple byline of Emma Brown, Nick Anderson, and T. Rees Shapiro–interviewed a high school teacher, the “director of the Ethics Institute at Dartmouth,” and disgraced former journalist Jayson Blair… coming up with this doozy of a headline:

5. David Muir, the anchor of ABC’s primetime news broadcast, asked Donald Trump Jr., “Do you believe Michelle Obama is owed an apology?”

ON @ABCWorldNews: Donald Trump Jr. says apology to FLOTUS not necessary for speech likeness. https://t.co/TDtXBkzbckhttps://t.co/gzBwMVZEu3

— ABC News (@ABC) July 19, 2016

BONUS: Glenn Beck (who doesn’t count, as he is a commentator) speculated that someone intentionally inserted the controversial passage to embarrass the Trumps.

“I don’t think Donald Trump or Melania had anything to do with it,” he said. “I think somebody sabotaged them. I think this was done intentionally. No good speechwriter does that.” (Hat tip: Mediaite)