The Speechwriter, Manafort, or Melania. Who goes and in what order?

[yellowcanine]

I am guessing the speechwriter gets fired and then Manafort gets fired at the end of the convention for throwing Melania under the bus. Failing that, Melania leaves the convention and flies back to NY.

[oberliner]

1. Zero chance of Manafort getting fired

Some low-level person will get axed.

[yellowcanine]

3. You might be correct and if so, Trump's remaining support among women is in the crapper.

This is gut level stuff. A political candidate who doesn't vigorously defend his wife is toast. Look at what happened to Mike Dukakis back in 1988. (Asked a hypothetical question about someone raping his wife and he gave a cold blooded answer about due process, etc.....) The question was unfair and inappropriate - and he should have said that - loudly and with righteous indignation.

[oberliner]

6. Trump's support isn't moving

There is no one who is supporting Trump now that will change their mind and support Hillary.

It's all about GOTV.

[Happyhippychick]

2. I agree with you exactly

[Koinos]

4. I don't think Trump will fire the speechwriter, who was Trump's son or son-in-law.

One or both of the other two things might happen. Manafort may get the ax, but Melania has to be there for the finale and stand on the stage with Donald, or Trump will "appoint" a new "model" for potential first lady.

[yellowcanine]

5. Melania has to be there unless she chooses not to be there.....

I did not know about the speechwriter being a family member. Yes that complicates things, and not in a good way, for Trump. Someone is going to have to take one for the team, and quickly, though. And I bet a lot of speeches are being rewritten/checked this morning.

[Koinos]

7. I'm not certain it was Trump's son or son-in-law. It is only an educated guess.

It just seems likely from the way the campaign is being run and the speeches are being written. Professional speechwriters don't make mistakes like this, unless their intention is sabotage. If Trump doesn't fire the speechwriter, you can be sure that he was "family."

[Cosmocat]

8. Yeah

His circle is so small, and it was such an amateurish speech generally, much less the obvious ripping of MO's speech, good bet it was one of the relatives.

I agree, she has to be there on the last day, and Manafort will get the ax in a few weeks, that is how Trump has managed things to this point, won't do the deed in the moment because he can't take responsibility on any level, just puts the knife in them down the road a bit.

[Koinos]

10. Trump's own "prepared" speeches appear to be a mess as well.

So I think the same nincompoops are writing for the whole family. Jared Kushner (Trump's son-in-law and Ivanka's husband) could be the speech-writing nincompoop-in-chief.

[yellowcanine]

12. Could it be that Ivanka's husband sabotoged Melania?

She is, after all, clearly a "trophy" wife and not the mother of the grown up Trump children.

[Koinos]

13. Moreover, Melania opposed Pence and the kids supported him.

I'm not sure if Melania wanted Christie to be the nominee, but Jared had a grudge against Christie for prosecuting him at one time.

[yellowcanine]

15. Trump is an idiot for using his kids as political advisers in the first place.

It does not make any sense, particularly in light of the fact that Trump himself has almost no real political experience. I can see consulting with them on tone, etc, but not on something like the VP pick, which is much too important politically to be left to amateurs.

[PatSeg]

16. I don't think he trusts anyone

but his family, which is understandable being he is such a jerk to everyone but family.

[Koinos]

20. I agree. He trivialized the whole VP vetting process.

[bellmartin]

23. Why not Trump himself, insisting the writer(s) insert that section?

...it would explain no reply from him about the firestorm, not even a tweet. It would also explain the chaotic, even for them, Trump campaign attempts to put out their first explanations. Most of them would know who did it, and be stumped for a way to work around that fact.

I can picture his version of research, thinking it was brilliant when he Ctrl-C'ed Michelle's words, imagining no one would ever notice.

[Cosmocat]

9. I agree with the speculation

that is was a family member of some kind who wrote it - just a run of the mill speech and a complete amateur move ripping MO's speech.

Can't can Manafort during the convention, it is a running disaster already.

And, Trump's way of dealing with these situations is to wait a while to put the knife in people, he can't do it in a timely manner because that would be actually taking some responsibility.

They will do whatever they have to do to have Melania there on the final day.

[Demsrule86]

11. Hey by Trumps view...

I think wives are a dime a dozen (mail order brides), but campaign managers ...not so much.

[Koinos]

14. I would say he views both wives and campaign managers as disposable.

[Demsrule86]

21. True that I only though that GOP types who value their reputation won't work for him. nt

[bellmartin]

22. As Kasper Gutman put it...

"I couldn't be fonder of you if you were my own son. But, well, if you lose a son, its possible to get another. There's only one Maltese Falcon."

I did not write that line. Dashiell Hammett wrote it. Or maybe it was a Trump family member who wrote it first.

[Koinos]

17. Who helped Melania Trump write her speech?

Here is a quote from the Washington Post that might shed some light on Trump's speechwriters:

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for helping to craft Melania Trump’s remarks since the Trump campaign speechwriting operation is not like most traditional presidential campaigns with a small staff and a narrow chain of command. Instead, the Trump campaign has one main speechwriter, Stephen Miller, and relies on other Trump associates for input. In recent days, for example, Manafort has consulted with two former Reagan speechwriters, Ben T. Elliott and Peter Robinson, on Trump’s upcoming acceptance speech but that pair is not formally part of the campaign.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republican-national-convention-scrutiny-of-melania-trumps-speech-follows-plagiarism-allegations/2016/07/19/3efc4208-4da4-11e6-a7d8-13d06b37f256_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_no-name%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

[yellowcanine]

18. Who knows? "Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan." comes to mind now.

I am guessing everyone is keeping their head down...It would take a brave soul to say, "I was using the Michelle Obama speech for inspiration and I must have accidentally lifted a few lines." - which is probably what happened.

[vegetarian x]

19. Bring back Corey Lewandowski!!!!!!!