美国国家公共电台 NPR--Some believe it's time for the GOP to rethink its message ahead of 2024

Some believe it's time for the GOP to rethink its message ahead of 2024

Transcript¹

With Donald Trump² expected to announce another run for president in 2024, NPR's A Martinez talks to Republican strategist Sarah Longwell about how the party is positioning itself.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

And as Domenico just reported, the midterms delivered crucial wins for the Democrats³ and surprising defeats for Republicans. Numerous far-right candidates and election deniers endorsed⁴ by former President Donald Trump lost their races, and now some Republicans believe it's time for the party to rethink its message ahead of 2024. Joining us now to talk about how the party would do that is GOP strategist Sarah Longwell. She's the co-founder and executive director of the Republican Accountability Project.

Sarah, do you view this election as a referendum on Donald Trump and Trumpism in general?

SARAH LONGWELL: Absolutely. You know, Donald Trump was the one who delivered so many of these primary candidates. He did something that no president has done before, which is to go around at all levels of government and sort of handpick people and then drag them across the finish line in their GOP primaries, with the exception of Georgia. Georgia's basically the only place that bucked⁵ that trend.

But as a result, we had people like Dr. Oz, people like Blake Masters and lots of these governors that are - that were big election deniers - because election denialism was at the heart of what Trump wanted out of the people that he endorsed. They - especially in the contested in the contested states, the swing states, they basically all went down. We're still waiting for final results for the governor's race in Arizona - but a huge, huge defeat for Donald Trump and the candidates that he endorsed.

MART?NEZ: And is it election denialism that is the reason for the rebuke⁶, or maybe something else, something deeper?

LONGWELL: I think it's something - I think it's a combination of things. I think, you know, when somebody is an extremist and willing to go so far as to deny the results of the election when they're all in on Trump, a lot of times that overlaps⁷ with being an extremist on abortion⁸, the way, say, Tudor Dixon was, again Blake Masters, Adam Laxalt. And when I - I listen to voters in focus groups every week. I talk to voters every week. And even though they were very frustrated⁹ with the economy, even though they were down on Biden, when it came to vote choice, they would just say that the Republican candidate was too extreme. Oftentimes, they would view that extremism through the lens of abortion and also, you know, their support of election denialism. So it was all - kind of all wrapped up together.

MART?NEZ: Then, as someone who is a GOP strategist, Sarah, how do you account for Latinos' support for Democrats falling nationally, by nine or 10 percentage points in some cases?

LONGWELL: Well, there are just some groups - and it's not just Latinos - it's often also Black men - there are just - there are some groups that are moving or trending somewhat toward Republicans. But it wasn't enough this time. I mean, Democrats need to be very sensitive to that. The Republican message on the economy really was appealing to, you know, these groups of voters, but it wasn't enough to sort of overcome the fact that independents, college-educated suburban¹⁰ voters in these sort of key swing states - they just broke hard away from what they saw as these extreme Republican candidates.

MART?NEZ: Now, Donald Trump is expected to make an announcement tomorrow. That could be the launch of his next White House bid. I mean, how much support does he have, Sarah, among his base and party leaders, if this was what we're going to hear tomorrow?

LONGWELL: Yeah. You know, it's actually tough to figure out because right now it feels like he's at a very low point. The problem is that we've seen him at these points before, after January 6, for example, or after the "Access Hollywood" tape. And there's this - always this moment where you think, maybe the fever's breaking. Maybe he's done.

But then the problem is that, you know, he's got this very committed group of base voters that causes the whole Republican sort of apparatus¹¹ to come back to him. And so it's hard to tell in this moment if Donald Trump's lackluster performance in this election is actually going to hurt him or if, actually, you know, people are still - that committed base is still there and it's going to be enough to keep him in control of the party. But it's certainly true that the reason that he is announcing - if he does announce - this early is an attempt to freeze the field and keep other candidates from running against him.

MART?NEZ: Yesterday, I heard one Republican strategists say that the best thing that Donald Trump can do tomorrow is to throw all of his support behind Herschel Walker for the Georgia Senate race. How likely would it be that we hear something like that from Donald Trump?

LONGWELL: Well, we have never known Donald Trump to do anything that was in anybody's interest but Donald Trump's. And so it would not surprise me in the slightest if what he was doing tomorrow was actually sucking all the oxygen out of the Georgia Senate race by announcing his own candidacy, which I think would do a lot of damage, actually, to Republicans in Georgia and ultimately could be the thing for the second cycle in a row that cost them that Georgia Senate seat.

MART?NEZ: That's Republican strategist Sarah Longwell. Sarah, thanks.

LONGWELL: Thank you.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 bucked   

adj.快v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的过去式和过去分词 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• When he tried to ride the horse, it bucked wildly. 当他试图骑上这匹马时，它突然狂暴地跃了起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The plane bucked a strong head wind. 飞机顶着强烈的逆风飞行。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 rebuke   

v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise

参考例句：

• He had to put up with a smart rebuke from the teacher.他不得不忍受老师的严厉指责。
• Even one minute's lateness would earn a stern rebuke.哪怕迟到一分钟也将受到严厉的斥责。

7 overlaps   

v.部分重叠( overlap的第三人称单数 )；（物体）部份重叠；交叠；（时间上）部份重叠

参考例句：

• The style in these two books largely overlaps. 这两本书的文体有许多处是一致的。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The new office overlaps the functions of the one already in existence. 新机构的职能与那个现存机构的职能部分重叠。 来自辞典例句

8 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

9 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

11 apparatus   

n.装置，器械；器具，设备

参考例句：

• The school's audio apparatus includes films and records.学校的视听设备包括放映机和录音机。
• They had a very refined apparatus.他们有一套非常精良的设备。