美国国家公共电台 NPR GOP Donor Questions His Support For Koch Network After Trump Criticism

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

There is a growing rift¹ in the Republican Party between money and power. This past week, President Donald Trump² attacked the billionaire Republican donors⁴ Charles and David Koch, calling them a total joke - that even rhymes - and their powerful political conservative network overrated. For many years, the Kochs have been the biggest game in town for Republicans, pouring millions of dollars into political campaigns and Republican causes. But this cycle, they're threatening to pull back over their differences with the president on issues of trade and immigration. And we should say here that Koch Industries, the company controlled by the brothers, is among NPR's financial supporters. Dan Eberhart is CEO of Canary, LLC, a drilling services company. He's been a major donor³ to the Koch network. And he joins us on the line. Good morning.

DAN EBERHART: Good morning.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So let's start with one high-profile Senate race, North Dakota. The Koch network announced they would not support the GOP candidate there, Kevin Cramer, in his bid to unseat the Democrat⁵, Heidi Heitkamp, in November. You told the Wall Street Journal that you were floored by this.

EBERHART: Yes, I was absolutely floored by it. I think it's very interesting that they've decided⁶ to kind of pick and choose which Republicans they're going to back, when I think, at this time, we need a united front going into the midterms.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah, the Koch organization has even indicated it's open to backing Democrats⁷ if they share the same goals. Would you ever support that?

EBERHART: I wouldn't support that. And I think that's a little bit of window dressing⁸, and they're being a little bit cute with that. I think that, really, they're - what they're really after is a more conservative libertarian streak⁹ in holding candidates accountable, you know, under their rubric and their qualifications and their desires. But I don't think that they'll actually back a Democrat.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Are you less inclined now to donate to the Koch network?

EBERHART: It definitely gives me pause. I think we, as Republicans, need a united front going into the midterm elections.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: You are a supporter of the president.

EBERHART: Yes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And so where will you put your money then?

EBERHART: Well, look. I think that you've got to put the money behind the candidates and the people that are governing to try to affect policy outcomes. I think the Koch network is focused on policy outcomes, not partisan¹⁰ politics - or at least that's been their stance in the past. But I think we've got to look at, you know, what's on the table as far as the upcoming elections and what can be done to affect policy outcomes in the campaign space. And I think that we need to elect Republicans in the fall. That's how we helped President Trump get his agenda through.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: What are other donors saying? I mean, is this a topic of discussion?

EBERHART: Oh, I think it's a topic of intense discussion. But I think you've got to look - you know, the Kochs did - you know, they spent about $400 million backing Romney and nothing backing Trump. So I don't think this is as new as the media is portraying¹¹ it to be. I think they've been cool to Trump for a long time. But I think when you really look at it, what's going on is the Kochs are getting most of what they want. They're getting regulatory rollback. They're getting tax reform. They're getting conservative judicial¹² appointments. They just differ with the president on trade and on immigration. And that's what's causing them consternation¹³. But I think they're actually getting most of what they want policy-wise.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So what are you telling the Koch network? You know, do you think they need to sort of fall in line?

EBERHART: I think it would be better for them to fall in line. I think it's pretty alarming for them to start trying to pick a fight 60 days out - or 90 something days out, rather - from the midterm elections.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: We just have a few seconds left. But, you know, more traditional Republicans feel the party has been led away from its core values by Trumpism. Republicans have always championed free trade, for example. So what's wrong with a divergence¹⁴ of opinion?

EBERHART: Well, I think divergence of opinion is healthy. But I think that, ultimately, if the Koch network wants to be - you know, maintain its influence in the party, I think that they need to be involved with helping¹⁵ Republicans win elections.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Dan Eberhart, CEO of Canary, LLC, thank you so much.

EBERHART: Thank you.

1 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。

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 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

4 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》

5 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

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 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》

8 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

9 streak   

n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动

参考例句：

• The Indians used to streak their faces with paint.印第安人过去常用颜料在脸上涂条纹。
• Why did you streak the tree?你为什么在树上刻条纹？

10 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

11 portraying   

v.画像( portray的现在分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The artist has succeeded in portraying my father to the life. 那位画家把我的父亲画得惟妙惟肖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ding Ling was good at portraying figures through careful and refined description of human psychology. 《莎菲女士的日记》是丁玲的成名作，曾引起强烈的社会反响。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

12 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

13 consternation   

n.大为吃惊，惊骇

参考例句：

• He was filled with consternation to hear that his friend was so ill.他听说朋友病得那么厉害，感到非常震惊。
• Sam stared at him in consternation.萨姆惊恐不安地注视着他。

14 divergence   

n.分歧，岔开

参考例句：

• There is no sure cure for this transatlantic divergence.没有什么灵丹妙药可以消除大西洋两岸的分歧。
• In short,it was an age full of conflicts and divergence of values.总之，这一时期是矛盾与价值观分歧的时期。

15 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。