美国国家公共电台 NPR--How do voters feel about the 37 federal charges filed against Donald Trump?

How do voters feel about the 37 federal charges filed against Donald Trump¹?

Transcript²

NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Republican strategist Sarah Longwell about how Trump voters view the former president's legal defense³. He was indicted⁴ last week in the classified documents case.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Former President Donald Trump is expected to appear in federal court tomorrow in Miami. He's accused of taking classified documents that included nuclear and defense secrets, then refusing to give them back. And at times, he apparently⁵ showed them to people. Trump spent the weekend rejecting the federal charges against him at presidential campaign events and making inflammatory and, at times, dubious⁶ claims to his supporters, because he'll be tried in court, but the presidential hopeful will first be judged by voters in the Republican primary and then, later, the presidential election.

For some insight into how this is all playing with Republican voters, we turn to Republican pollster and strategist Sarah Longwell. Good morning and welcome back to the program.

SARAH LONGWELL: Good morning. Thank you for having me.

FADEL: So we saw Trump really making himself out to be a victim this weekend - a victim of the government. Are Republican voters buying Trump's argument that these charges are political?

LONGWELL: They do. And there's this phenomenon that happens every time Trump is impeached⁷ or indicted, and I call it the rally-round-Trump effect, where voters express - they sort of share his grievance⁸. And they view - you know, they use words like weaponized, railroaded, two-tiered justice system. And it's hard to blame voters for believing this because this is the message they get not just from Donald Trump but from a lot of Republican elected officials, from right-wing media, even from Trump's 2024 challengers. And so when the party - you know, everybody kind of rushes to Trump's defense and cries foul⁹, you know, you can't be surprised when that's the message that the voters take in.

FADEL: Now, legal experts say this indictment¹⁰ is quite damning. You had former Attorney General Bill Barr talking about it over the weekend. And yet, as you point out, a majority of Republicans, including some of Trump's primary opponents, are defending him. Why?

LONGWELL: Well, I think that there's this symbiotic¹¹ relationship where they believe that - the voters demand it from them. You know, they believe that to attack Trump would cause them to lose the support of voters. And the thing is, there's some truth to that. You know, we have been asking now for several months how voters would respond to Trump being indicted this second time. And out of the 50 voters that we talked to, only two said that another indictment would make them support Trump less. But 19 of them said that it would make them support Trump more.

And so the candidates know that these voters are going to respond this way. And so I think that they make this tactical decision to just stay on Trump's side and then hope that they can, you know, make their case later. But it really is a mistake because it allows Trump to kind of suck up all this oxygen. And these other challengers - they kind of become bit players in Trump's central drama, and it makes it impossible for them to make an affirmative case for themselves or to use this as an opening to explain why Trump is unfit.

FADEL: So will this indictment actually buoy¹² his presidential campaign, make him a stronger candidate?

LONGWELL: You know, I think - in the short term. There's - you know, one of the things I - about these rally-round-Trump effects is that they tend to be sort of short-term bumps. Now, the question is is how many more indictments¹³ are going to come, and is it going to be a case where, because of all of Trump's legal troubles, he's the only person who ever gets talked about? And like I said, these other candidates can't find a way to break through, make an affirmative case for themselves, explain to the country why Trump is unfit. Then Trump's the only game in town, and that does ultimately make him sort of the dominant¹⁴ player in the Republican primary.

FADEL: Yeah. As you point out, he's the dominant player in the Republican primary. If he does win the nomination¹⁵, what does this case mean, and other cases mean, for his chances in the general election?

LONGWELL: Well, this is where everything's different because the gap between what base voters want and what swing voters will tolerate has gotten very wide. Donald Trump is not popular with swing voters, and I don't anticipate that these indictments or his legal troubles are going to make him more popular with swing voters.

FADEL: Sarah Longwell is a GOP strategist and founder¹⁶ of the Republican Accountability Project. Thanks so much for your time and your insights.

LONGWELL: 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 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 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。

4 indicted   

控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The senator was indicted for murder. 那位参议员被控犯谋杀罪。
• He was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of murder. 他被大陪审团以两项谋杀罪名起诉。

5 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

6 dubious   

adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• What he said yesterday was dubious.他昨天说的话很含糊。
• He uses some dubious shifts to get money.他用一些可疑的手段去赚钱。

7 impeached   

v.控告（某人）犯罪( impeach的过去式和过去分词 )；弹劾；对（某事物）怀疑；提出异议

参考例句：

• Elected officials can be impeached. 经过选举产生的官员可以被弹劾。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The judge was impeached for taking a bribe. 这个法官被检举接受贿赂。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 grievance   

n.怨愤，气恼，委屈

参考例句：

• He will not easily forget his grievance.他不会轻易忘掉他的委屈。
• He had been nursing a grievance against his boss for months.几个月来他对老板一直心怀不满。

9 foul   

adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规

参考例句：

• Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
• What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气！

10 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

11 symbiotic   

adj.共栖的，共生的

参考例句：

• Racing has always had a symbiotic relationship with betting.赛马总是与赌博相挂钩。
• Engineering completely new symbiotic relationship is obviously not an imminent possibility.筹划完全新的共生关系显然是可能性不大。

12 buoy   

n.浮标；救生圈；v.支持，鼓励

参考例句：

• The party did little to buoy up her spirits.这次聚会并没有让她振作多少。
• The buoy floated back and forth in the shallow water.这个浮标在浅水里漂来漂去。

13 indictments   

n.（制度、社会等的）衰败迹象( indictment的名词复数 )；刑事起诉书；公诉书；控告

参考例句：

• A New York jury brought criminal indictments against the founder of the organization. 纽约的一个陪审团对这个组织的创始人提起了多项刑事诉讼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These two indictments are self-evident and require no elaboration. 这两条意义自明，无须多说。 来自互联网

14 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

15 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

16 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。