美国国家公共电台 NPR 'The Campaign Is The Amplifier': How Trump Plans To Fight Impeachment Push

'The Campaign Is The Amplifier': How Trump¹ Plans To Fight Impeachment² Push

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith has been listening in. Tam, good morning.

TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE³: Good morning.

INSKEEP: How do Congressman⁴ Harris' comments fit in with what other Republicans are saying?

KEITH: Well - so Congressman Harris is very much in line with the talking points that the White House sent around last week after releasing the letter. Incidentally, they accidentally also sent those talking points to Democrats⁵. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was on "60 Minutes" last night. He was attempting to make this same argument. But some of these talking points just aren't tethered to reality. What I'm hearing from Republicans close to the White House who don't want to go on tape is that they do consider the call improper⁶ but just not impeachable⁷.

INSKEEP: OK. So they're making a much more limited defense⁸ of the president. What is the president himself saying?

KEITH: Well, as you say, he has tweeted some 80 times - more than 80 times over the weekend. And in a couple of those tweets, he goes very far. He accused a member of Congress of treason, said he wanted access to the whistleblower - even though there are whistleblower protections in place. Another one quoted someone as saying impeachment would lead to civil war. That's pretty extreme, even by the standards of President Trump, and also way outside of the norms of past presidential conduct.

But in terms of the White House - you know, in 1998, President Clinton, his White House had a war room set up with communications professionals and lawyers going to bat for him. Late last week, Kellyanne Conway, who is a counselor⁹ to the president, was speaking to the reporters on the White House driveway. She was asked whether President Trump needs a war room.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

KELLYANNE CONWAY: Why would he do that? Who's - who started the war here? He's the most battle-tested person I've ever met. Why do we need an impeachment war room when - when the other people have the burden of showing why they're impeaching¹⁰ the president?

KEITH: So what she's alluding¹¹ to is also just that President Trump is all about the battle. He's all about picking fights or being part of fights. And people I talked to expect that the White House is going to be consumed by this, that there will be no carving¹² out of policy.

INSKEEP: The Oval Office is the war room, I suppose.

KEITH: Indeed - or wherever the tweets come from.

INSKEEP: And then there's the question of who else will be defending the president. Who will be in his corner?

KEITH: Well - so here's the thing. This is the first time that you have a president running for re-election who's now facing an impeachment inquiry¹³. And he has a campaign. His campaign even has a war room. And the Trump campaign and the RNC, over the weekend, launched a $10 million ad buy. You can expect for there - they will have surrogates out there; they will be doing rapid response. So in some ways, the war room is also the Trump campaign. It's one and the same. This is an existential fight for President Trump.

INSKEEP: Tamara, thanks for the context in your reporting. Really appreciate it.

KEITH: You're welcome.

INSKEEP: That's NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith.

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 impeachment   

n.弹劾；控告；怀疑

参考例句：

• Impeachment is considered a drastic measure in the United States.在美国，弹劾被视为一种非常激烈的措施。
• The verdict resulting from his impeachment destroyed his political career.他遭弹劾后得到的判决毁了他的政治生涯。

3 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。

4 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

5 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》

6 improper   

adj.不适当的，不合适的，不正确的，不合礼仪的

参考例句：

• Short trousers are improper at a dance.舞会上穿短裤不成体统。
• Laughing and joking are improper at a funeral.葬礼时大笑和开玩笑是不合适的。

7 impeachable   

adj.可控告的，可弹劾的

参考例句：

• Thus, Congress cannot remove an executive official except for impeachable offenses. 因此，除非有可弹劾的行为，否则国会不能罢免行政官员。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• The government officer committed an impeachable offence. 那位政府官员犯了可能招致弹劾的罪行。 来自辞典例句

8 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

9 counselor   

n.顾问，法律顾问

参考例句：

• The counselor gave us some disinterested advice.顾问给了我们一些无私的忠告。
• Chinese commercial counselor's office in foreign countries.中国驻国外商务参赞处。

10 impeaching   

v.控告（某人）犯罪( impeach的现在分词 )；弹劾；对（某事物）怀疑；提出异议

参考例句：

11 alluding   

提及，暗指( allude的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He didn't mention your name but I was sure he was alluding to you. 他没提你的名字，但是我确信他是暗指你的。
• But in fact I was alluding to my physical deficiencies. 可我实在是为自己的容貌寒心。

12 carving   

n.雕刻品，雕花

参考例句：

• All the furniture in the room had much carving.房间里所有的家具上都有许多雕刻。
• He acquired the craft of wood carving in his native town.他在老家学会了木雕手艺。

13 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。