人们很容易认为唐纳德·特朗普现在应该有很多事情要处理，但《华尔街日报》的报道（随后也被MS NOW证实）显示：这位总统最近抽出了时间来监督三则宣传性竞选广告的制作工作。这些广告的全部费用都由美国纳税人承担，而且这些广告显然违反了联邦法律——该法律禁止使用公共资金用于宣传目的。
It’s tempting to think Donald Trump would have plenty on his plate right now, but The Wall Street Journal reported (and MS NOW confirmed) that the president recently took time out of his schedule to oversee the creation of three propagandistic campaign ads which are being financed entirely by American taxpayers and which appear to ignore federal law prohibiting the use of public funds for “propaganda purposes.”
鉴于道德律师在讨论这一日益严重的丑闻时使用了“可被弹劾的违法行为”这样的措辞，值得注意的是：特朗普无法将这种明显且违法的公共资金滥用行为简单地归咎于那些过于热心的助手们。
In light of the fact that ethics lawyers have used phrases such as“impeachable offense” when discussing the burgeoning scandal, it’s notable that Trump won’t be able to simply blame overzealous aides for this obvious and legally dubious misuse of public money.
考虑到这一点，周三在白宫举行的一场与竞选无关的活动中，有记者问特朗普：“为什么在美国中期选举之前，这些竞选广告的费用要由美国纳税人来承担？”
With this in mind, a reporter asked Trump at an unrelated White House event on Wednesday why American taxpayers should foot the bill for his campaign ads ahead of the midterm elections.
“首先，我并没有参选，”总统回答道，“这些广告确实是我发起的，但我并没有参选。”他还补充说：“我之所以制作这些广告，并不是为了自我宣传。”然而，这些广告的目的显然就是为了美化特朗普的形象；其中一则广告实际上就是两年前特朗普自己制作的竞选广告。
“Well, I’m not running for office, first of all, and so, the ads are, you know, given by me, but I’m not running for office,”the president replied adding, “I’m not promoting myself because I’m not running for office.”The idea that the commercials, which have run on MS NOW, aren’t promoting Trump is obviously bonkers. All three of the ads are clearly intended to glorify the president, and one of them was literally a Trump campaign ad two years ago.
这种欺骗手段其实并不复杂：一位现任总统，出于对选民反对的恐惧，以及想要激发其“让美国再次伟大”（MAGA）支持者的热情，利用纳税人的钱来制作宣传性竞选广告——同时却要求选民们“假装”他的名字不会出现在2026年的选票上。
The underlying shell game isn’t exactly sophisticated: An incumbent president, fearing voter backlash and desperate to boost enthusiasm among his MAGA base, is using taxpayer money for propagandistic campaign ads as the early voting window opens — all while telling the electorate to “pretend” that his name isn’t on 2026 ballots.
虽然特朗普今年并没有真正参选，但这并不能让这种滥用公共资金的行为变得不那么令人愤慨。事实上，就连几位共和党国会议员也承认白宫在这件事上做得太过分了。民主党国会议员似乎也不打算就此罢休。
Trump may not literally be “running for office” this year, but that doesn’t magically make the abuse any less outrageous. (Even several congressional Republicans have conceded the White House went too far on this one.) Congressional Democrats appear unlikely to let this go.
据《Politico》报道，如果民主党在11月赢得多数席位，马里兰州众议员杰米·拉斯金（Jamie Raskin）很可能会担任该调查小组的负责人。他与加利福尼亚州民主党众议员乔治·怀特赛德斯（George Whitesides）共同致信政府问责局（Government Accountability Office，GAO）和特别检察官办公室（Office of Special Counsel），要求他们调查“总统行政办公室为在主要电视媒体及白宫官方社交媒体渠道上投放这些广告所使用的纳税人资金的来源、用途及总金额”。
Politico reported Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who is poised to lead the panel if Democrats win the majority in November, joined California Democratic Rep. George Whitesides in sending a letter to the Government Accountability Office and the Office of Special Counsel. It asks the GAO to investigate the “source, accounts, and total amount of taxpayer funds used by the Executive Office of the President to produce and distribute this across major television markets and official White House social media channels.”
两位议员还要求特别检察官办公室查明：这些广告是否使用了数百万纳税人的资金；如果确实使用了纳税人的资金，是否违反了《哈奇法案》（Hatch Act）；以及应该由谁来承担相应的责任。拉斯金和怀特赛德斯指出：“这些广告属于对纳税人资金的非法使用；最明显的证据是，它们的内容与唐纳德·特朗普在2024年总统竞选期间使用的广告几乎完全相同，甚至使用了相同的视频素材和相同的、充满错误意识形态的信息。”
The lawmakers also asked the Office of Special Counsel to investigate whether the ads “paid for by millions of dollars of taxpayer funds, constitute a violation of the Hatch Act, and determine who should be held accountable.”“These ads constitute an illegal use of taxpayer funds, perhaps best demonstrated by the fact that they are virtually identical to the ones Donald Trump used during his 2024 presidential campaign, and in fact use the same footage and the same inept ideological messaging,” Raskin and Whitesides contended.
在国会山的另一边，华盛顿州的参议员帕蒂·默里（Patty Murray）和康涅狄格州的参议员克里斯·墨菲（Chris Murphy）——他们分别是参议院拨款委员会（Senate Appropriations Committee）和该委员会下属的国土安全部拨款小组委员会（Homeland Security Committee’s Appropriations Subcommittee）的民主党负责人——也致信国土安全部部长马克韦恩·穆林（Markwayne Mullin），针对有关“国土安全部将原本用于海关和边境保护（Customs and Border Protection）的2000万美元资金转用于资助这些政治广告”的报道提出了质疑。
On the other end of Capitol Hill, Sens. Patty Murray of Washington and Chris Murphy of Connecticut — the top Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Homeland Security Committee’s appropriations subcommittee, respectively —wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin regarding reports that the agency has redirected $20 million in funding originally intended for Customs and Border Protection to “bankroll the obscene political ads.”
截至目前，这些竞选广告的花费已接近250万美元，而这些资金原本是来自共和党提出的国内政策法案中为海关和边境保护部门拨出的款项。这个问题的情况很可能会在得到解决之前变得更加糟糕……美联社报道称，国土安全部已“动用2000万美元”来支付这些竞选广告的费用，并且政府已经发出种种迹象表明，随着大选日临近，这种滥用纳税人资金的行为将会加剧。
To date, the price tag for these campaign ads is nearing at least $2.5 million which is coming from money the Republicans’ domestic policy megabill had directed to Customs and Border Protection The problem might very well get worse before it gets better: The Associated Press reported that the Department of Homeland Security has “tapped $20 million” to pay for the campaign ads, and the administration has given every indication that the abuse of taxpayer money will intensify as Election Day draws closer.
这篇文章 白金汉宫由特朗普亲自操刀的纳税人资助的选举广告，MS NOW
The post The White House’s taxpayer-financed election ads were shaped by Trump personally MS NOW