美国国家公共电台 NPR 任期还剩两个月 特朗普开除了国防部长埃斯珀

The news came in a presidential tweet today. Quote, "Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service." And that's how Donald Trump¹ let the world know that he had fired the secretary of defense². Trump added that Christopher Miller³, who currently serves as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, will become acting⁵ secretary, effective immediately. Joining us with more is NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman.

总统今天在推特上发布了一则消息。他写道：“马克·埃斯珀的职务已被终止。我要向他的付出表示感谢。”唐纳德·特朗普用这种方式让世界知道他解雇了美国国防部长。特朗普还在推特上表示，美国国家反恐中心主任克里斯托弗·米勒将担任代理国防部长，决定立即生效。NPR新闻驻五角大楼记者汤姆·鲍曼将和我们连线。

Hi, Tom.

你好，汤姆。

TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE⁶: Hey, Ari.

汤姆·鲍曼连线：你好，阿里。

SHAPIRO: How much of a surprise is this? It was certainly sudden.

夏皮罗：这有多令人惊讶？这真是太突然了。

BOWMAN: Oh, it's not a surprise at all. Trump wanted to fire him back in June for opposing the president's insistence⁷ to use active-duty troops to deal with street protests in D.C. and elsewhere. Now, active-duty troops did deploy⁸ to the Washington area, but the Pentagon had them remain outside the city itself. The president wanted to send a strong message. Esper was quite forceful in saying that was not a good idea. Police and National Guard troops were the best option. Here's Esper talking about it back on June 3, the last time he was in the Pentagon briefing room.

鲍曼：这并不令人吃惊。特朗普在6月时就想解雇他，因为他反对总统坚持用现役部队来处理华盛顿和其他地方的街头抗议活动的做法。现在，现役部队确实部署在华盛顿地区，但五角大楼让部队驻守在城外。总统想传达强烈的信息。而埃斯珀很坚决地称那不是好主意。警察和国民警卫队是最好的选择。以下是埃斯珀在6月3日所说，那是他最后一次出现在五角大楼简报室的日子。

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MARK ESPER: The option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire⁴ of situations. We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking⁹ the Insurrection Act.

马克·埃斯珀：用现役部队来执行执法任务这一选项，只应作为最后手段，只有在最紧急和最严峻的情况下才可使用。但现在我们并不处于这些情况中。因此我不支持启用暴动法案。

BOWMAN: So, Ari, that really sealed his fate. Esper had a resignation letter ready to go. And I'm told he updated it in recent days.

鲍曼：阿里，这真的决定了他的命运。当时埃斯珀已经准备好辞职信。我听说他最近修改了辞职信的内容。

SHAPIRO: That was five months ago. Why didn't Trump fire him back then?

夏皮罗：那是五个月前的事情。当时特朗普为何没有解雇他？

BOWMAN: Well, Trump was talked out of it by his advisers¹⁰ and also lawmakers on Capitol Hill saying it didn't look good so close to the election. And, of course, Esper's predecessor¹¹, Jim Mattis, resigned over disagreements with Trump.

鲍曼：特朗普的顾问和国会议员都劝说特朗普不要解雇他，因为大选即将举行，这样做不太好。当然，埃斯珀的前任吉姆·马蒂斯也因与特朗普意见不合而辞职。

Now, even though there were reports in recent days that Esper would be fired, there were mixed views on whether that actually would happen. Some thought it was likely to happen. Others, especially in the Hill, were worried it would send a message of a government in turmoil¹². And Esper himself was telling lawmakers just a few days ago that he was not resigning and was expecting to stay for the remaining 2 1/2 months of this administration.

尽管最近几天有报道称埃斯珀将被解雇，但对于这是否真会发生，各方看法不一。有些人认为这很可能发生。其他人，尤其是国会山成员担心，这会传递出政府陷入混乱的信号。就在几天前，埃斯珀本人还告诉议员，他不会辞职，他希望在本届政府剩余的2个半月任期内继续留任。

SHAPIRO: Well, what's been the reaction so far today?

夏皮罗：那今天到目前为止，人们的反应如何？

BOWMAN: Well, only from Democrats¹³, actually — I haven't seen any reaction from Republicans. And so far, the only reaction from Democrats, again, opposing this move — Congressman¹⁴ Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said it was a childish and reckless move and was destabilizing for the Pentagon ahead of a political transition. The congressman said, in the national security community, it's well-known that periods of presidential transition leave our country exposed to what he called unique threats from adversaries¹⁵.

鲍曼：实际上只有民主党人做出了反应，目前我还未看到共和党人有任何反应。到目前为止，民主党唯一的反应还是，反对这一举动，众议院军事委员会主席、国会议员亚当·史密斯表示，这是幼稚和鲁莽的举动，破坏了五角大楼在政治过渡之前的稳定。这位国会议员表示，国家安全部门众所周知的情况是，总统过渡时期会使我们国家面临他所称的来自对手的独特威胁。

And Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Foreign Relations Committee, echoed that — said firing a secretary of defense in the last weeks of a lame-duck presidency¹⁶ serves no purpose and only demonstrates an instability harmful to American national defense — so, again, only Democrats talking about this.

参议院军事委员会和外交关系委员会成员、民主党参议员蒂姆·凯恩同意这一说法，他表示，在“跛脚鸭”总统任期的最后几周解雇国防部长毫无意义，只会显现对美国国防有害的不稳定局势，我要再说一次，目前只有民主党人在谈论这件事。

SHAPIRO: Well, Esper only held this job for a little over 16 months. What will he be remembered for? What was his track record?

夏皮罗：埃斯珀的任职时间只有16个多月。他会因为什么而被人们记住？他的履历如何？

BOWMAN: Well, there were mixed reviews. He was called Yesper for acquiescing¹⁷ or remaining silent over Trump's more controversial moves, such as troop cuts in Afghanistan and Germany. Also, some Pentagon officials, including Esper, were open to removing the names of Confederate generals from U.S. military bases. Trump strongly opposed it. And Esper, again, was silent.

鲍曼：评价褒贬不一。他被称为“耶斯珀”，因为他对特朗普饱受争议的举措持默许态度或保持沉默，比如在阿富汗和德国削减军队。此外，包括埃斯珀在内的一些五角大楼官员也对美军基地不再使用南方邦联将领名字持开放态度。但特朗普对此表示强烈反对。所以埃斯珀又沉默了。

To some people in Capitol Hill I spoke¹⁸ with — they say he was a strong Army secretary, made steep cuts to some programs he saw as no longer necessary but was a disappointment as defense secretary. Others really were more charitable, saying he did as best he could under trying circumstances, meaning working for Trump. Defense analyst¹⁹ Michael O'Hanlon called him solid and successful for focusing on the new defense strategy that centered on China and Russia, while another analyst, Brad Bowman, praised Esper for pushing modern weaponry like hypersonic missiles and directed energy.

我在国会山采访的一些人认为，他是强势的陆军部队，大幅削减了他认为不再需要的项目，但作为国防部长，他的表现令人失望。其他人的看法则更加宽容，他们认为他在艰难的环境下尽了最大努力，而艰难的环境指为特朗普工作。国防分析人士迈克尔·奥汉伦称埃斯珀专注于以中国和俄罗斯为中心的新国防战略，他在这方面坚定而且取得了成功，而另一位分析人士布拉德·鲍曼则称赞埃斯珀推动了高超音速导弹和导向能等现代武器装备。

SHAPIRO: And just briefly²⁰, why would any president fire somebody as prominent as a defense secretary after losing an election with just a couple months left as a lame-duck president?

夏皮罗：请简短回答一下，为什么会有总统在选举失败后，在只剩下几个月的跛脚鸭总统任期内解雇像国防部长这样显赫的人？

BOWMAN: Because we're talking about Trump. And anybody that disagrees with him — he takes that personally and forcefully. And as he said on numerous occasions, I like to fire people.

鲍曼：因为我们谈论的是特朗普。任何与他持不同意见的人，他都会以个人和强硬的态度对待。正如他在很多场合所说，“我喜欢解雇人”。

SHAPIRO: NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman, thank you.

夏皮罗：以上是NPR新闻驻五角大楼记者汤姆·鲍曼带来的报道，谢谢你。

BOWMAN: You're welcome, Ari.

鲍曼：不客气，阿里。

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 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。

3 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

4 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 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。

7 insistence   

n.坚持；强调；坚决主张

参考例句：

• They were united in their insistence that she should go to college.他们一致坚持她应上大学。
• His insistence upon strict obedience is correct.他坚持绝对服从是对的。

8 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

9 invoking   

v.援引( invoke的现在分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求

参考例句：

• You can customise the behavior of the Asynchronous Server and hence re-brand it by defining your own command set for invoking services. 通过定义自己调用服务的命令集，您可以定制自定义异步服务器的行为，通过为调用服务定义自己的命令集从而对它重新标记。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• You can customize the behavior of the Asynchronous Server and hence re-brand it by defining your own command set for invoking services. 通过定义自己调用服务的命令集，您可以定制自定义异步服务器的行为，通过为调用服务定义自己的命令集从而对它重新标记。 来自辞典例句

10 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

11 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

12 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

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》

14 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。

15 adversaries   

n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• That would cause potential adversaries to recoil from a challenge. 这会迫使潜在的敌人在挑战面前退缩。 来自辞典例句
• Every adversaries are more comfortable with a predictable, coherent America. 就连敌人也会因有可以预料的，始终一致的美国而感到舒服得多。 来自辞典例句

16 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

17 acquiescing   

v.默认，默许( acquiesce的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Japan were acquiescing in being strangled. 日本默然同意别人把它捏死。 来自辞典例句
• Smith urged Ariza to retract his trade request and be patient several times before finally acquiescing. 在阿里扎提出要被交易时，在答应之前，他曾经数次要求对方多加考虑。 来自互联网

18 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。

19 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

20 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。