-
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Braving rain and cold, Trump1's supporters soak up hints of another run
Donald Trump hasn't said for sure whether he will run in 2024. But he's having a hell of a lot of fun teasing it.
"We are going to take back that beautiful, beautiful White House. I wonder who will do that. I wonder, I wonder," he said to roaring applause at a Saturday rally in Florence, S.C.
More than a year after he left the White House, Trump is still the center of the Republican universe. And that's truest of all for his most committed fans. Thousands of rallygoers waited for hours on Saturday in frigid3, gusty4 weather for Trump to speak.
"It shows the love people have to be out in this," said Rhonda Moore, from Columbia, in the rain as the temperature plummeted5. It would still be more than five hours until Trump took the stage. She turned around to show off the flag she had wrapped herself in.
"It's President Trump dressed like a gladiator. So I thought I'd let him keep me warm," she said with a laugh.
A Trump rally is the easiest place to see just how much of a cult6 of personality has built up around Trump in the party. But as he works to sway Republican primaries — and oust7 incumbents8 in the process — it also is an opportunity to see not only how much he has changed the party, but how much he is shaping the future of the party.
RINOs draw lots of attention
Moore, holding her flag tightly around her head, said she doesn't consider herself a Republican, despite her support of Trump.
"I classify as an American conservative. Republicans have been disappointing in some things that they've done. They're part of the swamp. Some of them, I think, they're RINOs," she said.
RINO — meaning "Republican In Name Only" — is a decades-old Republican epithet9 that has gained new currency in the Trump era. He uses it not so much to indicate a lack of ideological10 purity as to slam Republicans who've been critical of him. And it was used liberally at this rally.
"Unfortunately for the patriots11 of South Carolina, you currently have two atrocious RINOs — they're bad people in the House, who went to Washington, sold you out and partnered with the Democrats12 to stab the Republican Party and frankly13, to stab our country in the back," Trump said in his speech.
He was referring to Republican Reps. Nancy Mace14 and Tom Rice. Mace criticized Trump sharply after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, and Rice subsequently voted to impeach15 Trump.
In response, Trump is supporting their Republican primary challengers, and the rally was an opportunity to give them high-profile guest-speaking gigs. State Rep. Russell Fry is challenging Rice. Former state Rep. Katie Arrington is challenging Mace.
"Let's not forget those RINOS. Let's not forget those turncoats," she yelled in her speech. "And you know who I'm talking about — the Liz Cheney of the South, none other than Nancy Mace. Nancy Mace is who I'm here to take out. She turned her back on President Trump, she turned her back on me, and she turned her back on you."
When loyalty16 matters more than a voting record
Some voters in the district have taken this to heart, according to Jerry Rovner, the chair of the 7th District Republican Party — Congressman17 Rice's district.
"I'll never forget — I was in a Lutheran church, and this little lady took her mask down," he said. "And I said, 'Yes?' And she goes, 'What are you gonna do about that Tom Rice — he voted against Donald Trump, you know.'"
Talking to Rovner, you understand just how much loyalty to Trump can outweigh18 ideology19 in the GOP these days.
"When I talked to Tom, he said, 'But I had 50,000 votes, I only did one thing,' and I said, 'Well, look: I'm 70 years old, I've never killed anybody, but if I did, I'd be a murderer,'" Rovner recounted.
Trump's meddling20 in primary elections has added a dose of chaos21 to how the party runs, according to Brendan Buck22, a Republican strategist who worked as an aide to House Speakers Paul Ryan and John Boehner.
"Oh, this is entirely23 unprecedented," he said.
"It makes a lot of people really uncomfortable, that incumbents are seen as expendable," he added. "And, of course, Donald Trump only thinks in terms of what's good for him or who's slighted him."
Indeed, Trump's endorsees were not the real focus of the rally. Trump was. And an hourlong speech hit on all the usual points — the lie that he won in 2020, for example, and insulting his perceived enemies.
And while he's not on a ballot24, he had the potential to win still more support at this rally for a potential 2024 run. Robin25 Herbert, a dental assistant from Florence, came with a co-worker and said she considers herself liberal, but she added that her feelings about Trump have been shifting recently.
"They were negative to start with," she said. "I thought he was just kind of harsh, but then the more I've heard him talk, I'm trying to feel a little different about it."
She elaborated why she's "trying" to come around to Trump in particular.
"I have not been happy with Biden at all," she said. "I just don't think he has been together at all. I think he's just, I don't think he knows what he's doing."
Biden's approval rating has been underwater since fall. The upshot for the Republican Party is that people like Herbert, who are disappointed with Biden, will either have to come around to Trump or get hooked by someone else.
For many rallygoers, the No. 1 alternative is clear: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. And it quickly became clear why: they see him and Trump as similar. Anthony Barber, a petroleum26 inspector27 from Somerville, talked about what he likes about the two men.
"They like to punch back. They don't sit there and take it, take it, take it — show weakness," he said. "You know, to run a country, you've got to show strength."
Others echoed the comparison.
"He's just like Trump; he says it like it is," said Shannon Reynolds, an Air Force veteran from Sumter. "He puts people in their place when they're wrong. He calls them out, but he's there for the people."
Trump and DeSantis have traded swipes at each other in recent months. But DeSantis' popularity in this crowd, and the fact that it's because many Republicans see him as distinctly Trumpy, is also proof of Trump's power.
While Trump keeps wondering aloud whether he will be on the 2024 ballot, it's clear that he has created conditions for people like him to hold sway in the GOP for years to come.
In other words, the conditions are ripe for Trumpism to outlast28 Trump himself.
NPR's Barbara Sprunt contributed to this report.
![收听单词发音](/images/play.gif)
1
trump
![]() |
|
n.王牌,法宝;v.打出王牌,吹喇叭 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2
transcript
![]() |
|
n.抄本,誊本,副本,肄业证书 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3
frigid
![]() |
|
adj.寒冷的,凛冽的;冷淡的;拘禁的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4
gusty
![]() |
|
adj.起大风的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5
plummeted
![]() |
|
v.垂直落下,骤然跌落( plummet的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6
cult
![]() |
|
n.异教,邪教;时尚,狂热的崇拜 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7
oust
![]() |
|
vt.剥夺,取代,驱逐 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8
incumbents
![]() |
|
教区牧师( incumbent的名词复数 ); 教会中的任职者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9
epithet
![]() |
|
n.(用于褒贬人物等的)表述形容词,修饰语 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10
ideological
![]() |
|
a.意识形态的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11
patriots
![]() |
|
爱国者,爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12
democrats
![]() |
|
n.民主主义者,民主人士( democrat的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13
frankly
![]() |
|
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14
mace
![]() |
|
n.狼牙棒,豆蔻干皮 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15
impeach
![]() |
|
v.弹劾;检举 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16
loyalty
![]() |
|
n.忠诚,忠心 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17
Congressman
![]() |
|
n.(美)国会议员 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18
outweigh
![]() |
|
vt.比...更重,...更重要 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19
ideology
![]() |
|
n.意识形态,(政治或社会的)思想意识 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20
meddling
![]() |
|
v.干涉,干预(他人事务)( meddle的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21
chaos
![]() |
|
n.混乱,无秩序 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22
buck
![]() |
|
n.雄鹿,雄兔;v.马离地跳跃 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23
entirely
![]() |
|
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24
ballot
![]() |
|
n.(不记名)投票,投票总数,投票权;vi.投票 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25
robin
![]() |
|
n.知更鸟,红襟鸟 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26
petroleum
![]() |
|
n.原油,石油 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27
inspector
![]() |
|
n.检查员,监察员,视察员 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28
outlast
![]() |
|
v.较…耐久 | |
参考例句: |
|
|