Did President Trump Really Plagiarize From Batman Villain Bane?

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It’s a done deal. We now have President Trump, and there are headlines flooding the internet claiming that he plagiarized from Batman villain Bane in his inauguration speech.  So is it true? Consider for yourself and keep in mind that the website where the headline started is owned by Gawker. And then cue the clickbait.

In reality, this can all be traced to a single line that is nearly identical to a line delivered by the character Bane, and then it’s taken further—all in good fun, hopefully.

“Giving it back to you”

President Trump happened to say a line that’s very close to a line delivered by actor Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight Rises when he promised to give America back to the people.

“We’re giving it back to you, the people,” he said.

In the film, the villain Bane freed some prisoners in Gotham City and told a crowd, “And we give it back to you, the people.”

Multiple websites have now picked up the story, although Gawker-owned Jezebel took it the furthest by declaring that he had “plagiarized” Bane. Plagiarism means ripping off word for word, of course, and the website goes on to post part of President Trump’s speech and part of Bane’s speech, claiming that they’re the same.

But pretty much every president in history makes claims such as these. I guess if there is one good thing we can say is that at least he sounds presidential. We’ll just have to wait and see if he ever starts acting like a president. Hopefully he does. And hopefully he stops venting and blowing hot air on Twitter because that is very un-presidential.

President Trump compared to other villains

This certainly isn’t the first time people have drawn comparisons between President Trump and various villains. Lennie James, star of The Walking Dead, compared him to Negan, a villain in his AMC series. Last year, a University of Pennsylvania compared Trump to Lord Voldemort, the villain in the Harry Potter series. At Comic Con last year, Gotham cast members compared Trump to yet another Batman villain, but this time it was Penguin.

This time the plagiarism claim could be a jab at the claims that First Lady Melania Trump may have plagiarized from now-former First Lady Michelle Obama in her speech at the Republican National Convention last year. Jezebel doesn’t mention it, but anyone who remembers that incident (and even those who don’t) probably at least got a good laugh out of it.

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