No, it really isn’t nuts.
It would have to be an astronomical coincidence to not be plagiarism.
For what it’s worth, I have an English literature degree, and that’s my “learned” opinion on it.
The two passages are so similar that almost beyond any doubt, one can conclude that they were taken from Michelle Obama’s speech.
What’s more, in the process of writing a speech for Melania Trump, it would be standard procedure to see what other wives of Presidential candidates had said in similar speeches in recent decades, if for no other reasons but to get ideas and get a general sense of how such a speech should go.
In this case, someone borrowed what Michelle Obama said. It would have been fine to borrow the thought, and just put it in one’s own words. But this took what she said and just changed a few words.
It’s true that sometimes, when speaking on the same topic, different people can say virtually the same thing independently. Many people are also just repeating commonly said things, and everyone knows that.
But the particular construction of that line from Melania’s speech is too close to what Michelle Obama said to likely be just coincidence.
The real story, though, is why is this such a controversy? Why is the media making it overshadow the real issues facing this country?
“the particular construction of that line “
This is the fault with your standard.
Mere ‘construction’ is not a sufficient standard.
Not a lawyer or a specialist in the field. Would be amenable of course to authoritative legal correction.
Personal moral standards vary, I believe a dispassionate person would take the same view as I: “Close but no cigar.”
That leaves the competency of the vetting process toward a different standard: “what can the media do with a plagiarism claim?”.
I don’t think that standard can ever predominate. The media can ‘claim’ whatever it wants.
“As I learned anew in crossing Antarctica, the only limit to achievement is the limit you place on your own dreams.” From the book Crossing Antarctica..
“Your word is your bond.” Melvyn Douglass