US President Joe Biden seems to be recycling more than just plastics these days, as he’s once again in the spotlight for plagiarism. Biden’s speech commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day had a striking resemblance to Ronald Reagan’s 40th-anniversary address. This isn’t Biden’s first rodeo with borrowing words. His law school days were marred by accusations of copying entire pages from a law review, proving early on, that originality might not be his strong suit.
During his D-Day speech, Biden borrowed phrases almost directly from Reagan’s address. It seems Biden’s not just a fan of Reaganomics; he might be a fan of Reagan-speak too. But Reagan isn’t his only muse. Biden has a record of lifting lines from former President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert, and even Democratic Senator Hubert Humphrey.
Of course, Biden was quick to point fingers at his staff, speechwriters. Yet, his consistent pattern suggests that President might be more into reading others’ speeches than writing his own.
President Joe Biden seems to have a knack for channeling former President Ronald Reagan—or at least his speechwriters do. At the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, Biden delivered a speech that was so very similar to Reagan’s 1984 address that one might think he found Reagan’s speech on a dusty old shelf in the White House and decided to give it a modern spin. Radio host Clay Travis first pointed out these striking similarities, sparking a wave of sarcastic commentary.
Biden’s speech included gems like “At last the hour had come. Dawn. Sixth of June, 1944,” which is suspiciously close to Reagan’s “At dawn on the morning of the Sixth of June, 1944.” It’s almost as if Biden thought the best way to honor history was to copy it accurately. Then there was Biden’s, “Two hundred and twenty-five American Rangers arrived by ship, jumped into the waves and stormed the beach,” which echoed Reagan’s, “Two hundred and twenty-five Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs.
Biden described the Rangers using ladders and ropes to scale the cliffs, a scenario Reagan also recounted with details. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Reagan must be feeling very flattered.
This isn’t just a one-off incident for Biden. His tendency to “borrow” from others aligns neatly with his strategy to woo Republicans who aren’t fond of Trump. He even coined the term “Bidenomics” to mirror Reaganomics, though Biden’s version hasn’t quite caught on the way Reagan’s did. Perhaps Biden thought that if he copied Reagan closely enough, he’d also copy Reagan’s approval ratings.
Biden’s 1988 presidential campaign was also marred by plagiarism accusations when he borrowed lines from British politician Neil Kinnock. He’s even been accused of copying material from John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Senator Hubert Humphrey.
Roger Severino, an editor at the Harvard Journal, claimed that back in 2000, Biden’s work was full of plagiarism. Severino’s first assignment involved editing an article by then-Senator Biden, which he found to be full of “mosaic plagiarism.” This isn’t a new problem for Biden; it dates back to his law school days when he copied five whole pages from a law review article without citation. Caught red-handed, young Biden admitted his mistake in a letter to the faculty and begged them not to label him a “cheat.” They let him retake the class, presumably with a stern warning to use his own words next time.
Biden also admitted to fabricating his involvement in the civil rights movement, claiming he participated in sit-ins and desegregation efforts. During his 2020 campaign, he falsely recounted being arrested in South Africa while trying to visit Nelson Mandela. Perhaps Biden thought that the more dramatic the story, the better it would stick, even if it wasn’t true.
In response to these plagiarism claims, Biden has often thrown his staff and speechwriters under the bus. During the 2020 primaries, Biden’s campaign was caught using sentences from outside organizations word-for-word on their website. Once again, Biden blamed his staff for the mix-up.
The White House has remained silent on the latest plagiarism accusations regarding Biden’s D-Day speech, continuing a pattern of evading direct responses to these claims. It seems the best way to handle a plagiarism scandal is to ignore it and hope it goes away.”
