美国国家公共电台 NPR--Mike Pence will celebrate his birthday by announcing his GOP presidential bid

Mike Pence will celebrate his birthday by announcing his GOP presidential bid

Transcript¹

Former Vice² President Mike Pence in Iowa Wednesday will make his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination³ official. There are questions about how he'll go up against former President Donald Trump⁴.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

In a moment, we have the story of the singer behind "The Girl From Ipanema." But first, former Vice President Mike Pence has launched his presidential campaign. He is celebrating his birthday in Iowa today.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Pence is the latest to join a growing field of 2024 GOP candidates. And he's got some familiar conservative talking points.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MIKE PENCE: We will kick these liberal meddlers out of our gun stores and out of your lives.

MARTIN: But he also has a task that's unique to him - explaining how he's a better choice than the man he governed alongside for four years.

INSKEEP: NPR political correspondent Kelsey Snell is in Des Moines, Iowa. Hey there, Kelsey.

KELSEY SNELL, BYLINE⁵: Hi, good morning.

INSKEEP: How are things in Iowa?

SNELL: Well, it is presidential season out here. And, you know, Iowa's actually a pretty popular place right now. A pork expo is kicking off across town with the Pence presidential campaign...

INSKEEP: OK.

SNELL: ...You know, on the other side.

INSKEEP: All right.

SNELL: Yeah. You know, all that kind of makes getting a hotel room or a rental⁶ car pretty tough. But moments like these happen a lot in Iowa. Their caucuses⁸ are typically the first voting test in a presidential primary. And Pence is already spending a lot of time here. He was just here last week riding a motorcycle at a big event with other candidates, and they will be back a lot.

The caucus⁷ process in Iowa is really known for bringing out engaged voters, and Pence had success in 2016 appealing specifically to evangelicals. That's part of why he was chosen to be the vice presidential candidate. And that might have some advantage for him if he's trying to appeal to traditional, engaged elements of the GOP here in Iowa.

INSKEEP: OK. So he's appealing to a base group. He's trying to have some fun. But he faces a serious question, which is how would he distinguish himself from the former president, who he served as vice president for four years?

SNELL: Well, you know, so far he sounds a lot like the Mike Pence who ran in the 2016 primary, which is actually pretty interesting because a lot has changed in American politics since then and within the Republican Party in particular. You know, he talks about free trade and fair markets, Christian⁹ family values and conservatism. He talks about his opposition¹⁰ to abortion¹¹. But what he doesn't really talk much about is Trump.

One thing he does talk about is respecting the Constitution, which is meant to be a shot at Trump. But he doesn't really talk about formative moments like January 6 when that pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol, including people who were chanting, hang Mike Pence. So, you know, Pence has said that Trump was wrong about January 6 and criticized him in the past. But that is not the central message of his campaign, at least not so far.

INSKEEP: OK, so at least they differ on the hanging vice presidents issue. But when we look across the nearly a dozen people running for the nomination, have they done much to distinguish themselves from each other?

SNELL: I mean, I think we kind of have to take them all as different examples. You know, we're even seeing the field expand this week. Former New Jersey¹² Governor Chris Christie got in yesterday and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum is planning to get in today. You know, they're both long shots. But I want to talk about Christie in particular, because he is interesting.

He's aggressively targeting Trump. He's doing what Pence really hasn't. He's calling out Trump for all of the ways he altered the party. And he's really set on taking Trump down. It isn't clear that Christie has the support to actually do that, but he wants to be a factor in the debates, and he wants to be an aggressive Trump critic.

You know, that's really not what we're seeing from a lot of others in this race, though, as I mentioned about Pence. Trump is certainly a bigger factor in the polls than he appears in their speeches. He's very popular with Republican voters. And just like in 2016, Republican challengers in this field don't really seem to know how to talk about him. But it's early, and a lot can happen. Lots can change, and Trump is still facing significant legal jeopardy¹³ in multiple states and in the District of Columbia.

You know, this is just the start. And these candidates are going to start bumping into each other and establishing messages about the campaign as it wears on.

INSKEEP: NPR political correspondent Kelsey Snell is in Des Moines. Kelsey, I hope you get a chance to drop by the pork expo in addition to the presidential announcement thing.

SNELL: (Laughter) Thanks, Steve.

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 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

3 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

4 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。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。

7 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

8 caucuses   

n.（政党决定政策或推举竞选人的）核心成员( caucus的名词复数 )；决策干部；决策委员会；秘密会议

参考例句：

• Republican caucuses will happen in about 410 towns across Maine. 共和党团会议选举将在缅因州的约410个城镇进行。 来自互联网

9 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

10 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

11 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。

12 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

13 jeopardy   

n.危险；危难

参考例句：

• His foolish behaviour may put his whole future in jeopardy.他愚蠢的行为可能毁了他一生的前程。
• It is precisely at this juncture that the boss finds himself in double jeopardy.恰恰在这个关键时刻，上司发现自己处于进退两难的境地。