美国国家公共电台 NPR Among Trump Supporters, Conflicts Of Interest Aren't A Top Concern

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Much of the country is not impressed by President Trump¹'s first weeks in office. A Gallup survey showed his approval rating at 37 percent. Even if that's a bit off, it's very low for a new president. One public concern involves the president's business conflicts of interest, but those conflicts do not trouble some of his core supporters who spoke² with NPR's Jim Zarroli.

JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE³: Fifty-one-year-old Chris Kinney thinks the United States has to get more serious about fixing some of the problems it faces such as the deficit⁴.

CHRIS KINNEY: I think this country really needs to be run more of a - more like a business at this point.

ZARROLI: And Kinney who was sitting in a reception area in the St. Paul Skyway in Minnesota last week says he likes the fact that President Trump promises to bring a businessman sensibility to government. As for all those people who want Trump to sell off his properties...

KINNEY: Probably a bunch of people that have never been in business, so they probably wouldn't understand he's not going to just hand everything over.

ZARROLI: Trump's business interests have been generating attention ever since his election. But those concerns haven't really registered with the president's supporters. Most polls show he has an approval rating of more than 80 percent among Republicans. Democratic political strategist Stanley Greenberg recently interviewed a group of Trump voters in Michigan.

STANLEY GREENBERG: They trust him. They know he's a businessman. They think he'll know how to get deals that are, you know, good for the country, but that he'll fight for American jobs.

ZARROLI: Greenberg says when he talked to Trump's supporters about what was on their minds, issues such as Trump's refusal to release his tax returns hardly ever came up. None of that surprises Susan Welch, professor of political science at Penn State, who has studied voter attitudes toward corruption⁵. Welch says certain kinds of corruption cases such as sex scandals get a lot of attention, and they can hurt politicians. Voters tend to overlook lesser⁶ offenses⁷.

SUSAN WELCH: They tended to not punish candidates who were charged with campaign violations⁸ or conflict of interest charges.

ZARROLI: Welch says most members of Congress who were embroiled⁹ in corruption scandals actually get re-elected. She says partisanship¹⁰ plays a big part in this. People are more likely to shrug¹¹ off wrongdoing by politicians from their own party. She points out that President Trump's supporters knew he was a businessman and voted for him anyway.

WELCH: They probably knew he wasn't going to do much about it given his resistance to revealing his income tax return, and they just didn't care that much because they thought he would bring about the kind of change they wanted.

ZARROLI: Former Republican congressman¹² Mickey Edwards agrees. Edwards says Democrats¹³ can talk all day long about Trump's conflicts of interest. His supporters don't care.

MICKEY EDWARDS: They don't care, you know, who's staying in this hotel. They already know he's a zillionaire. Fine. OK. So let him make more zillions.

ZARROLI: Edwards who is a critic of Trump says the only thing that's going to diminish Trump's popularity is a lack of progress on the issues that are most important to his supporters.

EDWARDS: The thing that could undermine him would be that in year two or year three the jobs have not come back and the things that he promised he was going to do he didn't get done.

ZARROLI: If Trump can't make real progress fixing the economy, Edwards says, then his support will diminish. And the fact that Trump might have profited off the White House will suddenly seem a lot more relevant. Jim Zarroli, NPR News.

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 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

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 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。

5 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

6 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

7 offenses   

n.进攻( offense的名词复数 )；（球队的）前锋；进攻方法；攻势

参考例句：

• It's wrong of you to take the child to task for such trifling offenses. 因这类小毛病责备那孩子是你的不对。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• 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

8 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

9 embroiled   

adj.卷入的；纠缠不清的

参考例句：

• He became embroiled in a dispute with his neighbours. 他与邻居们发生了争执。
• John and Peter were quarrelling, but Mary refused to get embroiled. 约翰和彼得在争吵，但玛丽不愿卷入。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 Partisanship   

n. 党派性, 党派偏见

参考例句：

• Her violent partisanship was fighting Soames's battle. 她的激烈偏袒等于替索米斯卖气力。
• There was a link of understanding between them, more important than affection or partisanship. ' 比起人间的感情，比起相同的政见，这一点都来得格外重要。 来自英汉文学

11 shrug   

v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等)

参考例句：

• With a shrug,he went out of the room.他耸一下肩，走出了房间。
• I admire the way she is able to shrug off unfair criticism.我很佩服她能对错误的批评意见不予理会。

12 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。

13 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》