美国国家公共电台 NPR Democrats Can Calm Their 2020 Election Anxiety By Accepting That There's No One Else

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Republicans are growing louder in their support of President Trump¹. About two dozen GOP lawmakers disrupted the testimony² of a top Pentagon official on Wednesday. They were protesting the House impeachment³ inquiry⁴ by crashing a secure House Intelligence hearing room on Capitol Hill.

Meanwhile, Democrats⁶ are watching closely how the impeachment inquiry and the Republican response to it plays with the American people as the 2020 campaign takes form. Let's talk about this with NPR's senior political editor Domenico Montanaro, who's on the line. Good morning, Domenico.

DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE⁷: Good morning, David.

GREENE: All right. So Republicans are rallying around the president and against this impeachment inquiry. They're getting, I mean, literally⁸ louder. What happened yesterday, and why now?

MONTANARO: Well, as you guys have been talking about, I mean, several Republicans made their way past Democratic staffers and got into the secure room where these depositions⁹ are being held. And by the way, these depositions are being conducted by members of Congress - Democrat⁵ and Republican - but they're on the committees undergoing the impeachment inquiry.

It's perhaps not surprising that some of these outside members tried to get in and tried to - or did get in and really tried what was a stunt¹⁰ after the president tweeted that Republicans needed to do more to fight and especially after the testimony from Bill Taylor, who's a top U.S. diplomatic official in Ukraine, who drew a direct line from President Trump to a pressure campaign to say Ukraine had to - you know - needed to say that it was looking into conspiracy¹¹ theories that would help Trump's reelection campaign.

GREENE: So I mean, you call it a stunt. This is Republicans who are disrupting a hearing where some of their own Republican colleagues are in there actually trying to do this work. What does this tell us? I mean, it sounds like they want to focus more on process and less on substance as the substance is taking shape.

MONTANARO: Yeah. I mean, there's - they don't want to have to talk about the substance. I mean, some of the Republicans who have addressed the substance have said what they've heard so far has been troubling. They want the process to include more public information. They want this to be conducted in public - at least they say that now for what's happening with this process. But you know, I would expect that a lot of this information will become public - we've seen a lot of the information from the depositions already - and that there's likely going to be public testimony. And then what do Republican members of Congress wind up saying when they hear from these people in public? They will have to then address the substance.

GREENE: Domenico, we talked for a long time as Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders weighed impeachment - you know, about the political impact and the effect that might have on the 2020 campaign. Now that they've moved into an impeachment inquiry, how are Democrats feeling with their political chances for next year?

MONTANARO: Well, I mean Democrats are Democrats, and they always feel nervous. (Laughter) I mean, that's just the reality. And we've been seeing multiple stories this week about Democratic donors¹², establishment members, party leaders who are saying that they are nervous about this field in particular because they see tremendous vulnerabilities that they hope don't turn into fatal flaws.

They look at someone like former Vice¹³ President Joe Biden, and they think that his performances in the debates have been spotty; his fundraising has been alarming. I mean, only $9 million cash on hand is really not enough to run a presidential campaign. They look at Elizabeth Warren and think about her support for something like "Medicare for All" as a replacement¹⁴ to private insurance and just think that those are - that that's a position that's too far to the left, that people in a general election aren't going to be in favor of.

So they're nervous about that. They float these names of people who could come in. But we need to remember: The last time that a late entry really ever worked was in October of 1991 when Bill Clinton got in. And that was a very different time. I mean, I had one strategist say to me - we were carrying around cellphones in duffel bags then and didn't even have email. So you know...

GREENE: (Laughter) It was an earlier era.

MONTANARO: It's a totally earlier era. It's a completely different thing. You had several candidates in 1991 say that they weren't going to run high-profile candidates during that summer - much sleepier than what's been happening now. And as another candidate told me, this is the field. And by the way, Democratic voters are pretty satisfied with the field that they have.

GREENE: So people who are supporting people like Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton - they should not be getting too excited, you're telling them.

MONTANARO: Probably not. But you know, if Oprah got into the race, that could be a game-changer. (Laughter).

GREENE: NPR's Domenico Montanaro. Thanks so much, Domenico.

MONTANARO: You're welcome.

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 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

3 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。

4 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。

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 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》

7 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。

8 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

9 depositions   

沉积（物）( deposition的名词复数 )； （在法庭上的）宣誓作证； 处置； 罢免

参考例句：

• The safety problems are more severe for low-pressure depositions because the processes often use concentrated gases. 对于低压淀积来说安全性问题更为突出，因为这种工艺通常使用高浓度的气体。
• The chief method is to take depositions of parties and witnesses. 主要的方法是录取当事人和证人的宣誓证言。 来自口语例句

10 stunt   

n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长

参考例句：

• Lack of the right food may stunt growth.缺乏适当的食物会阻碍发育。
• Right up there is where the big stunt is taking place.那边将会有惊人的表演。

11 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

12 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》

13 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

14 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。