Melania Trump didn’t plagiarize UN speech from author C.J. Cherryh

On Sept. 23, 2025, U.S. First Lady Melania Trump spoke during the United Nations General Assembly to introduce her children’s initiative “Fostering the Future Together.” Many online claimed part of her speech had been plagiarized from speculative and science fiction writer C.J. Cherryh’s (pen name of Carolyn Janice Cherry) work.

For example, Bluesky and Facebook posts shared a screenshot with an excerpt from Trump’s speech, alongside an AI-generated response claiming Cherryh had written these same words in her 1981 book “Downbelow Station.” Per the screenshot, the words Trump allegedly plagiarized were:

As children, we all played marbles, threw paper airplanes, and ran with a thin string in our hand watching our kites lift off. Great minds have turned marbles into microchips, paper airplanes into drones, and kites into satellites.

(Bluesky user “gtconway.bsky.social”)

In short, we found no evidence that Cherryh had ever written this in “Downbelow Station.” Cherryh herself made a public statement saying she could not recall writing such words, suggesting “there may have been a paraphrase of what I said” but being unable to confirm what the phrase was. As such, we rate this claim as false.

We reached out to Cherryh via her Facebook page and will update this story if we get a response.

The above screenshot also misstated Trump’s own words, writing “through [intended as ‘threw’] paper airplanes” when Trump stated “flew paper airplanes.” 

Trump made the following speech (emphasis, ours) with the quote in question below:  

As children, we all played marbles, flew paper airplanes, and ran with a thin string in our hand watching our kites lift off. Great minds have turned marbles into microchips, paper airplanes into drones, and kites into satellites.

Innovation is wonderful. Our nations benefit from advancements in technology, saving lives, expanding access to knowledge, connecting people, and of course, safety. Nothing comes before safety. We must safeguard healthy environments for our children, protect their personal freedom, their confidence and motivation. Safety multiplies innovation. Since technology is evolving at a pace that exceeds lawmaking, we must identify simple solutions to protect our children’s ingenuity. Remember, our next generation will also teach to revolutionize how we live, travel, design, and connect. The moment is now. I’m establishing “Fostering the Future Together.” A global coalition of nations committed to well-being of children through the promotion of education, innovation, and technology. “Fostering the Future Together’s” mission is to ensure that every child can flourish in the digital era. I will be hosting “Fostering the Future Together’s” inaugural meeting at the White House during the first quarter of 2026.

The quote in question begins at the 1:07 mark:

We obtained a copy of the book and searched for variations of the above quote, including the terms “drones,” “kites” and “satellites.” We found no language in the book remotely comparable to Trump’s speech.

Cherryh commented on the allegations on her verified Facebook (archived) page (linked from her website). Cherryh stated she could not recall writing those words but also joked that based on the claim, she “pre-invented” the “drone phenom” back in 1980. She asked readers to weigh in and find the quote. Other aspects of the quote she said she would not have written due to the spelling errors among other issues:

Re Melania Trump’s speech, I’ve read the quote, tried to place it within my memory of Downbelow Station, and facetiously suggest I should be given great credit for pre-inventing the ‘drone’ phenom back in 1980—in other words, there may have been a paraphrase of what I said—I haven’t had a chance to look it up. But any recent reader, if you notice any similar passage, let us all know.

I can only say — they say there’s no such thing as bad publicity; well, I suppose not.

AND BEFORE ALL ELSE…I also know the difference between threw and through [referring to the misspelled and misstated screenshot], ran and run, and would not propose ‘a’ string governing multiple kites. Just sayin’.

(Facebook user “Cj Cherryh”)

This is not the first time Trump has been accused of plagiarism. We have previously covered the false claim that she plagiarized former U.S. first lady Michelle Obama during a U.N. speech in 2017. We also found a 2016 speech she made was eerily similar to a speech by Obama. Speechwriter Meredith McIver issued an apology admitting culpability for the inclusion of unattributed quotes from Obama’s 2008 speech into Trump’s 2016 speech.