美国国家公共电台 NPR Breaking With Trump's GOP, Koch Brothers Praise Democrats On Immigration

Breaking With Trump¹'s GOP, Koch Brothers Praise Democrats² On Immigration

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

The Koch brothers are billionaire libertarians who have spent massive amounts of money to support Republican candidates and causes over the years, pushing a pro-business, small-government agenda.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Now the Koch brothers are making a push to praise some Democrats in this midterm year, as well. It's part of their support of a legislative³ solution for DREAMers. These are immigrants to this country who arrived as children illegally.

GREENE: Let's bring in NPR political reporter Tim Mak with some reporting he's done on this. Hi, Tim.

TIM MAK, BYLINE⁴: Hey there.

GREENE: OK. So what are the Koch brothers up to? What is their political network doing right now?

MAK: So I think you put your finger on it earlier. The Koch brothers are libertarians. They're not conservatives. So they clash with the president in a number of ways, especially the direction of the Republican Party. So where the president wants tariffs⁵, they want free trade. Where the president wants a hard line on immigration, they want a fix for dreamers. Where the president has decided⁶ to sign a spending bill that would increase the deficit⁷, the Koch brothers have really opposed that from the start. So what are they doing now? The Hispanic outreach arm of the Koch network is doing something they've never done before, and that is to spend money praising Democrats at the federal level who they've worked with on a solution, on a legislative solution, for these DREAMers.

GREENE: Who exactly are they praising? Which Democrats have they chosen to single-out here?

MAK: So they're going to send out about more than a hundred-thousand mailers to various people in the districts of five Democrats. We've got Senator Chris Coons of Delaware. We've got Democratic Congressmen Pete Aguilar and Raul Ruiz of California and Democrats Michelle Lujan Grisham and Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico. Now, it's notable that one of these folks is the chairman of the House Democratic campaign arm in a midterm year. We also want to note that there are nine Republican lawmakers. So they're not going all in with Democrats. It's just notable that this is one of the first times they're actually spending money to praise Democrats.

GREENE: I mean, being someone who's covered the Koch brothers and followed their influence over the years, I mean they're so known for Republican loyalty⁸, right? I mean, even though you said they're not necessarily conservative, you have Democrats who will bring them up all the time as some evil force. I mean, is this really a moment where we can say, wow, the Trump era has really changed the political landscape?

MAK: The Republican Party really does appear to be moving further away, not closer, to the philosophies that the Koch brothers have espoused⁹ for a really long time. And I think one thing that's changing is not what the Koch brothers believe. That's remained pretty consistent. But they're changing their tactics, right, to reflect the nature of the Republican Party and where it's going. So they're trying to emphasize the bipartisan efforts they're engaging in that's consistent with their philosophy. So they're working on things like a second chance for felons¹⁰ as part of their efforts on criminal justice reform. They're working on this immigration reform issue. They're working on legislation that would let terminally ill patients try experimental medicines and medical procedures. Still, we have to conclude that they have a lot still in common with the Republican Party. They're still going to be spending big in the midterms to help Republicans keep Congress. That's a priority for them. They're going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars. And, let's not forget, they were a big fan of the tax cuts that were supported exclusively by Republicans in the House and Senate, and they're going to be using that as a central message in their midterm push over the next six months.

GREENE: Interesting background on the Koch brothers. NPR's Tim Mak. Thanks a lot.

MAK: 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 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》

3 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

4 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。

5 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

8 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

9 espoused   

v.（决定）支持，拥护（目标、主张等）( espouse的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They espoused the notion of equal opportunity for all in education. 他们赞同在教育方面人人机会均等的观念。
• The ideas she espoused were incomprehensible to me. 她所支持的意见令我难以理解。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 felons   

n.重罪犯( felon的名词复数 )；瘭疽；甲沟炎；指头脓炎

参考例句：

• Aren't those the seats they use for transporting convicted felons? 这些坐位不是他们用来押运重犯的吗？ 来自电影对白
• House Republicans talk of making felons out of the undocumented and those who help them. 众议院共和党议员正商议对未登记的非法移民以及包庇他们的人课以重罪。 来自互联网