《纽约时报》的查理·萨维奇（Charlie Savage）为我们提供了对白宫虚假信息机器的深度剖析——这是一条几乎取之不尽的装配线，源源不断地制造胡说八道的故事和拙劣的叙事，欺骗全国源源不断的受骗者。
The invaluable Charlie Savage in The New York Times gave us a deep look into the White House’s disinformation machine, the nearly inexhaustible assembly line cranking out bullshit stories and shabby narratives to fool the nation’s inexhaustible supply of suckers.
10月2日星期五下午，白宫邀请了包括主流媒体和右翼媒体在内的记者，进行一次关于“武器化”的线上简报。简报的预览记录了白宫计划公布的关于唐纳德·J·特朗普在离任期间持有机密文件以及阻挠文件收回的调查材料。这些文件涉及的议题零散，其中包括：对白宫内部就对特朗普社交俱乐部及其住所马阿拉歌（Mar‑a‑Lago）进行搜查的合理依据进行辩论；在特朗普及其家人外出期间执行任何搜查令的计划；以及收集特朗普首席助理苏西·怀尔斯（Susie Wiles）的电话记录。
On the afternoon of Friday, October 2, the White House invited a mix of mainstream and right-wing reporters to an online briefing about “weaponization.”A briefer previewed records the White House planned to release from the investigation of Donald J. Trump’s retention of classified documents while out of office, and his obstruction of their retrieval. The files reflected scattered topics.
大多数事实已经为人所知或属于细枝末节，主流记者在白宫于周一发布这些文件时并未予以关注。但特朗普的盟友在保守派信息生态系统中推动了一种危言耸听、断章取义的解读。到周三，特朗普盟友、枕头制造商迈克·林德尔（Mike Lindell）网站的记者就在椭圆形办公室向特朗普提问。总统对她的提问表示感谢，并将此询问斥为“武器化”。
Among them: an internal debate over probable cause to search Mr. Trump’s social club and residence, Mar-a-Lago; plans to execute any search warrant while Mr. Trump and his family were away; and the collection of phone logs of Mr. Trump’s top aide, Susie Wiles. Most facts were already known or minutiae, and mainstream reporters ignored the files when the White House posted them on Monday. But Trump allies pushed an alarmist and decontextualized interpretation through the conservative information ecosystem. By Wednesday, a reporter from Trump ally and MyPillow founder Mike Lindell’s website asked Mr. Trump about it in the Oval Office.
正如萨维奇的作品一贯的做法，这篇报道结构严谨，鉴于萨维奇对证据的审慎呈现，可信度更高。
The president thanked her for the question, denouncing the inquiry as “weaponization.”
10月2日的简报由约翰·所罗门（John Solomon）主持，他曾是主流记者，现受雇于白宫，担任所谓的特殊政府雇员。多年来，他一直活跃于传播亲特朗普的叙事，包括2019年涉及乌克兰的事件——该事件导致特朗普首次弹劾。2022年，所罗门……特朗普任命他为美国国家档案馆的代表，以便他能接触到与2016年特朗普竞选团队同俄罗斯关系调查相关的记录。
As is customary with Savage’s work, the reporting is copper riveted and more credible given how judiciously Savage presents his evidence. The October 2 briefing was led by John Solomon, a former mainstream journalist who is now employed by the White House as a so-called special government employee. He has been active for years in presenting pro-Trump narratives, including during the 2019 events related to Ukraine that led to Mr. Trump’s first impeachment.
啊，约翰·所罗门。我母校苹果里的蛀虫。事实上，他和我都曾获得我新闻学院的杰出校友奖，但奇怪的是，每当所罗门的名字出现在新闻中，这个奖杯就会从我的墙上掉下来。主流媒体记者偶尔才能从所罗门先生的演讲中发现新闻。但一旦他完成白宫简报员的角色，他就会根据同样的材料为自己的网站JustTheNews.com撰写文章。
In 2022, Mr. Trump named him his representative to the National Archives so he could gain access to records related to the investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. Ah, John Solomon. The worm in the apple of my alma mater. In fact, both he and I won my J-school’s distinguished alumni, which mysteriously falls off my wall every time Solomon’s name appears in the news. Mainstream reporters have only occasionally found news in Mr. Solomon’s presentations.
在这种情况下，他的文章——就像他的简报一样——将已知信息当作新发现来呈现，并省略了有关新细节的关键背景。其叙述由此进入了右翼媒体的回音室。萨维奇故事的最后部分展示了右翼媒体如何贪婪地吞食白宫的虚假信息。这就像观看海豹池的喂食时间。克林顿团队曾对针对其政府的保守派“呕吐漏斗”怒不可遏。事后看来，那些抱怨中明显透出一股“你们还没见过真正的好戏”的味道。
But once he completes his role as White House briefer, he writes articles based on the same material for his website, JustTheNews.com. In this case, his article—like his briefing—presented known information as revelations and omitted key context about new details. Its narrative entered a right-wing media echo chamber. The last part of Savage’s story shows how eagerly the right-wing media gobbles up the White House’s disinformation. It’s like watching feeding time at the seal tank. The Clinton people raged about the conservative “puke funnel” that was arrayed against that administration.
而纯属偶然，萨维奇曾写过的内容的一个完美范例，就在周末实时上演了。以流感为由，民主党参议员候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科最近暂停竞选活动九天。（我认为，在我们一生中最重要选举之一的最后三周里，即使不得不躺在担架上，你也应该继续竞选，但我是在马萨诸塞州长大的。等塔拉里科进入参议院后，我们得好好聊聊这件事。）
In retrospect, those complaints have an unmistakable air of “you ain’t seen nothing yet.”And through pure serendipity, a perfect example of what Savage had written about exploded in real time over the weekend. Citing the flu, Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico took nine days off from campaigning recently. (I am of a mind that, with three weeks left in one of the most important elections of our lives, you campaign from a damn gurney if you have to, but I grew up in Massachusetts. We will have to have a talk about this when Talarico gets to the Senate.)
总之，那些“飞行猴子”花了一个月的时间来猜测塔拉里科休假背后的“真相”。然后，在周末，一群右翼疯子小丑们终于想出了这个“真相”。
Anyway, the flying monkeys spent a month speculating about the Real Story behind Talarico’s sabbatical. Then, over the weekend, a bevy of wing-nut clowns came up with the Real Story.
而且这件事相当离奇。声称与俄亥俄州林德尔希望中心（Lindner Center of Hope）——一家精神健康诊所的“一名员工”交谈过的部分“MAGA”影响者在X平台上炸开锅，称他们已经识破了塔拉里科（Talarico）的可怕欺骗，并呼吁他立即退出竞选。
And it was a humdinger. Claiming to have talked to an “employee” at the Lindner Center of Hope, a mental-health clinic in Ohio, some MAGA "influencers" erupted on Xwitter that they had sussed out Talarico’s horrible deception and called for his immediate withdrawal from the race.
从一开始，这则“独家”就存在几个问题。首先，如果塔拉里科真的需要精神健康诊所的帮助，他为何要飞到俄亥俄州？其次，根据与“医院员工”的电话交谈，塔拉里科于10月10日已从林德尔出院，而那天他正出现在奥斯汀的一个音乐节上。随后，林德尔本身也澄清了此事。
There were a couple of problems with this scoop right from jump. First of all, if Talarico needed a mental-health clinic, why in the hell would he fly all the way to Ohio? Also, according to a phone call with the “hospital employee,” Talarico was discharged from the Lindner on October 10, a day that he made an appearance at a music festival in Austin. And then the Lindner itself dropped the big one.
众议员詹姆斯·塔拉里科从未在林德尔希望中心接受过治疗。X平台上的支持和填充声势堪比挖掘巴拿马运河。
Representative James Talarico has never received treatment from Lindner Center of Hope. The backing and filling on Xwitter has sounded like the digging of the Panama Canal.