美国国家公共电台 NPR--2 Murdoch-owned papers release harsh editorials about Donald Trump

2 Murdoch-owned papers release harsh editorials about Donald Trump¹

Transcript²

NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Jonah Goldberg of The Dispatch about critiques of former President Trump by the conservative editorial boards of The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The editorial boards of The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post have issued harsh critiques of former President Donald Trump following the January 6 committee's final hearing of the summer. The Post said the former president is unworthy to lead the country again. The Journal called the facts sobering and called out Trump for his inflammatory tweets. These editorials both published in major newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch. Joining us now to discuss is Jonah Goldberg. He's a conservative columnist³ and the editor in chief and co-founder of The Dispatch. Good morning, Jonah.

JONAH GOLDBERG: Good morning. It's great to be here.

FADEL: Thank you for being here. So do you think these editorials - they were released an hour apart from one another on Friday - are they a direct reflection of Murdoch's personal opinions?

GOLDBERG: It's hard to know. I mean, Murdoch, first of all, is 91 years old. But there's - and Lachlan, you know, his son, is driving things quite a bit, according to most accounts. That said, there's lots of reporting and lots of reason to believe that they're just tired of Donald Trump. They think they've gotten out of him the best that they can get out of him. And there are other, more exciting prospects⁴ in the GOP field for them to get behind. And so I think that this sort of lends credence⁵ to that theory, but it's - some of it is just sort of, you know, criminology.

FADEL: Will these very critical editorials resonate with conservative voters?

GOLDBERG: I think not. I mean, look, I have the footprints all over my back as someone who used to be considered sort of part of the conservative establishment, who overread the ability of institutions like National Review, where I was at the time, and Fox News, like I was at the time, to change voter opinions about Donald Trump. That said, I think this should be more viewed as sort of like a - you know, what they call in the business world a B2B play. This is a very important thing for donors⁶, for other Republican politicians, for other media outlets⁷ to understand there's going to be oxygen for you not to follow Trump's script on every single thing going down the road.

This is a signal that people like Ron DeSantis will get a fair hearing at Fox News and Tom Cotton and others - that everyone is not going to fall in line for the president who lost the last election and is still lying about it. At the very least, it is going to be a real contest to see who's the standard bearer in 2024.

FADEL: But are we seeing the same criticism of Trump from Fox News, also owned by Rupert Murdoch?

GOLDBERG: Less so. I mean, the opinion side stuff - you know, the prime-time stuff, Tucker and Laura and Hannity - still has that Dear Leader vibe about Donald Trump. There's still a lot of pandering⁸ to Trump's biggest fans on the opinion side. But on the news side, like my friend Bret Baier's "Special Report" and the daytime news programming, that is much more evenhanded about - certainly about the January 6 hearings. And even on Friday, they didn't cover a Trump rally on "Fox News Live." They ran an interview with Ron DeSantis, which is a bit of a message as well.

FADEL: So a sign that maybe conservative media is stepping away from Trump ahead of 2024?

GOLDBERG: I think the more reputable the conservative media, the more it's stepping away. You saw Washington Examiner run a similar editorial a couple weeks ago. But the part of the problem with the conservative media these days is that, with the exception of the 800-pound gorilla⁹ that is Fox, the ability to sway voters and change the debate among mainstream¹⁰ conservative media is more limited than many in mainstream conservative media would like. And a lot of people, the sort of do-your-own-research crowd, are just simply looking for the permission structure they need to believe anything that Trump says. And that still makes him a formidable factor in the primaries.

FADEL: Jonah Goldberg, political commentator¹¹, editor in chief and co-founder of The Dispatch, thank you so much for being on the program.

GOLDBERG: It's great to be here. Thank you.

1 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。

2 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。

3 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

4 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

5 credence   

n.信用，祭器台，供桌，凭证

参考例句：

• Don't give credence to all the gossip you hear.不要相信你听到的闲话。
• Police attach credence to the report of an unnamed bystander.警方认为一位不知姓名的目击者的报告很有用。

6 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 pandering   

v.迎合（他人的低级趣味或淫欲）( pander的现在分词 )；纵容某人；迁就某事物

参考例句：

• This magazine is criticized for pandering to the vulgar taste of some readers. 这家杂志因迎合某些读者的低级趣味而遭到批评。 来自辞典例句
• We're four points up there; we don't need to get hit for pandering. 我们在那儿领先四个百分点；我们不必为了迎合一些选民而遭受批评。 来自电影对白

9 gorilla   

n.大猩猩，暴徒，打手

参考例句：

• I was awed by the huge gorilla.那只大猩猩使我惊惧。
• A gorilla is just a speechless animal.猩猩只不过是一种不会说话的动物。

10 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

11 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。