白宫正在扩大一项由纳税人资助的广告宣传活动，以在11月的中期选举前推广唐纳德·特朗普的政治议程。美国参议员约翰·肯尼迪周日对哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）新闻表示，“应该有条规定”禁止此类开支——随后又隐晦地承认这种开支“很可能”是违法的。
As the White House expands a taxpayer-funded advertising campaign to promote Donald Trump’s political agenda before the November midterm elections, US senator John Kennedy told CBS News on Sunday “there ought to be a rule” against such spending – before tacitly admitting such spending is “probably” illegal.
肯尼迪是美国总统的共和党同僚。哥伦比亚广播公司《面对国家》节目主持人玛格丽特·布伦南询问了他关于白宫花费资金播放多则以特朗普为主角的广告一事——其中包括一则为其2024年竞选活动制作的广告。
Kennedy, the US president’s fellow Republican, was asked by Margaret Brennan, the CBS Face the Nation host, about the White House spending to air multiple ads featuring Trump – including one that was produced for his 2024 election campaign.
布伦南首先提醒肯尼迪，他在3月曾斥责时任国土安全部长克里斯蒂·诺姆，指责她动用数百万政府资金“提升个人公众形象”，拍摄了一组耗资2.2亿美元、由她本人出镜的广告。随后布伦南请这位路易斯安那州参议员评论这些以特朗普为主角的新广告，白宫将其称为“公共服务公告”。
Brennan first reminded Kennedy that in March he had rebuked Kristi Noem, then Trump’s homeland security secretary, for spending millions in government funds “to bolster her public image” in a $220m series of ads she starred in. She then asked the Louisiana senator to comment on the new ads featuring Trump, which the White House calls “public service announcements”.
布伦南说：“我们的观众将在本节目中看到一则30秒的商业广告。它在所有主流电视网播出，有线电视网也在播。广告显著展示了特朗普总统，旁白赞扬他是‘我见过的最强硬、最有韧性的人’。结尾标注‘由美国政府支付费用’。这是纳税人钱的最佳用途吗？”
“Our viewers are going to see a 30-second commercial on this program,” Brennan said. “It’s on all major networks – it’s on the cable networks as well. It prominently features President Trump, and there’s a voice praising him as ‘the toughest, most resilient person I ever met’. And at the end, it says ‘paid for by the US government’. Is that the best use of taxpayer money?”
肯尼迪回答：“首先，关于诺姆部长，她所做的是‘蠢得教科书级别’。她花了2.2亿[美元]拍摄关于她自己的广告，我当时就公开批评了她。”“这看起来像是一则关于特朗普总统的商业广告，”布伦南指出，指的是这一系列广告中的第一则，一则30秒的特朗普第二任期精彩片段集锦，配以屏幕文字推动其政治议程，并暗示民主党人是共产主义者。
Kennedy replied: “Well, first, as to secretary Noem, what she did was masterclass dumb. She spent $220[m] on commercials about her, and I called her out on it.” “This looks like a commercial about President Trump,” Brennan noted, referring to the first ad in the series, a 30-second highlight reel of Trump’s second presidency, punctuated by on-screen text driving his political agenda and suggesting Democrats are communists.
“我不认为任何公职人员，包括特朗普总统、克里斯蒂·诺姆或约翰·肯尼迪，应该花费公共资金……用于为自己制作私人广告，”肯尼迪回答道。“现在，白宫的看法不同。但……我认为应该有一条规定，你不能——好吧，大概已经有这条规定了——你不能花费公共资金来宣传自己。”肯尼迪是一名律师，拥有弗吉尼亚大学和牛津大学的学位，他似乎在默认民主党众议员、法律学者杰米·拉斯金的论点：任何参与制作首个挺特朗普广告的政府雇员——“或利用政府资源制作该广告的人”——可能已触犯《哈奇法案》，构成重罪，该法案禁止政府工作人员从事党派竞选活动。
“I don’t think any public official, including President Trump or Kristi Noem or John Kennedy, should spend public money … on private ads for themselves,” Kennedy replied. “Now, the White House sees it differently. But … I think there ought to be a rule that you can’t – well, there probably is a rule – you can’t spend public money to promote yourself.” Kennedy, a lawyer with degrees from both the University of Virginia and University of Oxford, appeared to be tacitly acknowledging the argument made by Jamie Raskin, a Democratic congressman and legal scholar, that any government employees who worked on the first pro-Trump ad – “or used government resources to make it” – may have committed a felony violation of the Hatch act, a law that bars government workers from partisan campaign activities.
据为共和党候选人购买广告时段的公司Medium Buying称，特朗普政府又动用更多纳税人资金，播放另一则以总统为主角的党派广告，该广告于周六在福克斯频道播出的俄亥俄州立大学对阵伊利诺伊大学的大学橄榄球赛期间在全国范围内播出。周日又在福克斯新闻频道再次播出。
According to Medium Buying, a company that buys airtime for Republican candidates, the Trump administration used more taxpayer funds to broadcast another partisan ad featuring the president that aired nationwide on Saturday during a college football game between Ohio State and Illinois on Fox. It aired again during Fox News Sunday.
这则30秒的广告展示了一张阴郁的黑白镜头，特朗普凝视着镜头，背景音响起他2023年和2024年数十次竞选演讲的结束段落。
That 30-second spot shows a moody, black-and-white shot of Trump staring into the camera as the soundtrack plays the closing riff of a campaign speech he gave dozens of times in 2023 and 2024.
“这是最后一战，”特朗普在广告中说。“有你在身边，我们将摧毁深层政府；我们将把好战分子赶出政府；我们将驱逐全球主义者；我们将扫除共产主义者、马克思主义者和法西斯主义者，”他继续说道，伴随人群欢呼。这些欢呼声表明，音频是在竞选集会上录制的，且时间早于他动用总统权力发动伊朗战争——这场战争让一些支持者感到被背叛。
“This is the final battle,” Trump says in the ad. “With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state; we will expel the warmongers from our government; we will drive out the globalists; we will cast out the communists, Marxists and fascists,” he continues, with cheers from a crowd. Those cheers indicate that the audio was recorded during a campaign rally and at a time before he used his power as president to start a war with Iran that has left some supporters feeling betrayed.
“我们将彻底击败假新闻媒体，并将彻底从这些暴君和恶棍手中解放我们的国家，”特朗普可以被听到如此承诺，他使用的语言显然是经过精心设计以吸引基督教支持者，呼应了《圣经》中耶稣将商人和兑换钱币者赶出耶路撒冷圣殿的故事。
“We will rout the fake news media, and we will liberate our country from these tyrants and villains once and for all,” Trump can be heard promising in language clearly calculated to appeal to Christian supporters by echoing the biblical story of Jesus driving merchants and money changers from the temple in Jerusalem.
这则最新广告屏幕上显示“由美国政府支付费用”，比第一则广告更明显地是一款党派产品。事实上，该广告是为特朗普2024年竞选活动制作的。它于2023年和2024年发布在他的Truth Social账号上，并呼吁支持者捐款。
The newest ad, with on-screen text reading “Paid for by the US Government”, is even more obviously a partisan product than the first one. In fact, the ad was created for Trump’s 2024 election campaign. And it was posted on his Truth Social account in 2023 and 2024 with a plea for funds from supporters.
甚至在2024年共和党全国代表大会上，特朗普发表接受提名演讲前，这则广告还在巨型屏幕上播放。当C-SPAN于2024年7月18日在大会期间播出该广告时，将其标识为“由共和党全国委员会提供”的材料。
The ad was even played on giant screens during the 2024 Republican national convention before Trump’s speech accepting his party’s nomination. When it was broadcast during the convention by C-SPAN on 18 July 2024, the ad was identified as material “provided by the Republican National Committee”.
在周日接受CBS采访结束时，肯尼迪主动表示，他也反对特朗普将自己的名字冠于公共建筑的做法。
At the end of his interview with CBS on Sunday, Kennedy volunteered that he also opposed Trump’s drive to put his own name on public buildings.
“我也认为我们应该有一条规定，即任何政客在世时都不得以其名字命名建筑，”肯尼迪说道，并补充说他所在的州就有这样的法规。
“I also think that we ought to have a rule that no politician can have a building named after him while he’s alive,” Kennedy said, before adding that there is such a statute in his home state.
“好吧，参议员，如果您提出该法案，我们将拭目以待，”布伦南回应道，提醒这位共和党议员，在周日早间电视节目上发表声明，与利用他的权力真正提出能够约束特朗普的立法是不一样的。
“Well, we’ll watch, Senator, if you introduce that,” Brennan responded, reminding the Republican lawmaker that making statements on Sunday morning television shows is not the same as using his power to actually introduce legislation that could restrain Trump.