遇到问题？扔点钱过去。这是超级富豪们的老套路，包括我们的总统唐纳德·特朗普。但这一次，特朗普面临一个大问题 — — 一场类似中期选举规模的问题 — — 我不确定他能否靠花钱摆脱困境。
Got a problem? Throw some money at it. That’s the tried-and-true method of the ultrawealthy, including our president, Donald Trump But this time, Trump has a big problem — a midterms-sized problem — and I’m not sure he can pay his way out of it.
距离选举日仅剩大约三周，共和党正处于急救模式。突然间，特朗普开始向美国人民发放支票：向大约100万《平价医疗法案》参保人发放一次性500美元退税支票；向约2000万医疗保险受益人发放90美元支票；他仍然坚持要向每个美国人发放5000美元 — — 但前提是共和党在11月获胜。
With just about three weeks to go until Election Day the Republican Party is in triage mode. And, all of a sudden, Trump is doling out checks to the American people: a one-time $500 refund check to roughly 1 million Affordable Care Act enrollees; a $90 check to about 20 million Medicare beneficiaries; and he still won’t let up on that promise to send $5,000 to every American— but only if the Republicans win in November.
这笔500美元的《平价医疗法案》退税不仅具有误导性，而且纯粹是个噱头。
Not only is this $500 ACA refund misleading, but it’s also a total gimmick.
就像他在流浪狗面前晃动一块肉，希望这一次的暂时缓解能让狗忘记多年来因乞讨食物而挨饿的日子。但美国人民比这更聪明，其中大多数人并不买账。
It’s like he’s dangling a slab of meat in front of a stray dog, hoping this one-time reprieve will cause the dog to forget about years of starvation when it was begging for food. But the American people are smarter than that, and most of them are not buying it.
首先，许多美国人表示，这些支票远远不足以抵消他们快速上涨的生活成本。其次，这些支票附带了一封来自总统的奇怪信件 — — 一封典型的特朗普式推荐信，充斥着错误信息，有些人甚至称之为宣传。
For one, many Americans say these checks are not nearly enough to offset their rapidly rising costs. Two, the checks came with a bizarre letter from the president, a classic Trump testimonial rife with misinformation and, some might say, propaganda.
我们的一些“连线”节目观众给我们寄来了附在他们《平价医疗法案》退税支票上的信件照片，信件部分内容写道：“多年来，拜登政府多收了你的钱来资助HealthCare.gov的运营。这笔钱属于勤劳的美国人，而不是政府，而现在，我将它退还给你！通过这一历史性行动，我的政府正在从《平价医疗法案》‘保费税’中积累的盈余资金中拨出，向你发放一次性500美元退税。”我真希望你们的媒体能报道一下，总统应该因我在信箱里发现的这番废话而被起诉或弹劾。
Some of our “Connect” viewers sent us photos of the letters attached to their ACA refund check, which read in part, “For years, the Biden Administration overcharged you to fund the operation of HealthCare.gov. That money belongs to hard-working Americans, not the Government, and now, I am returning it to you! With this Historic Action, my administration is taking the surplus funds that accumulated from the Obamacare ‘Premium Tax’ and issuing a one-time $500 refund.”I would love to see your network cover how the president should be sued or impeached for this BS that I found in my mailbox.
这有关系吗？(@hazelruth.bsky.social) 它指出，这笔退款是针对那些没有获得补贴以帮助支付其保险费用的美国人。并补充说：“你们一直在为这个有缺陷的体系付费，现在你们终于能拿回一些东西。” 特朗普声称这一切都是乔·拜登总统的错，并表示他将用在他第二个任期之前就存在的盈余资金来支付这笔退款。但特朗普声称这是拜登“严重失职”的产物，甚至不一定是拜登行为的结果，这一点缺乏证据。
Does it matter? (@hazelruth.bsky.social) It notes that the refund is for Americans who do not receive subsidies to help pay for their coverage. And adds, “You have paid into this flawed System, and now you are finally getting something back.”Trump is claiming this is all President Joe Biden’s fault, and he says he’s getting the money to pay you back from a surplus of funds that predates his second term in office. Except there’s no evidence of Trump’s claim that it was a product of “gross mismanagement” by Biden or even necessarily a product of his actions at all.
医疗保健研究非营利组织 KFF 的 ACA 项目主管告诉《美联社》，这些资金完全可能来自特朗普第一个任期期间收取的费用。毕竟，根据 KFF 的分析，他的第一届政府确实从保险公司那里征收的用户费用多于支出，导致约 10 亿美元的未使用资金。MS NOW 的泽希安·阿利姆这样写道，这些支票是“愤世嫉俗的诡计，旨在引诱美国人。”
And the director of the ACA program at healthcare research nonprofit KFF told The Associated Press that it’s entirely possible the funds came from fees collected during Trump’s first term. After all, his first administration did collect more user fees from insurers than it spent, resulting in an estimated $1 billion in unspent funds, according to KFF analysis. MS NOW’s Zeeshan Aleem puts it, the checks are a “cynical ploy to bait Americans.”
他写道：特朗普计划中最赤裸裸的部分是，这些支票的运作方式是为了转移人们对其自身政党在导致保费飙升方面所扮演角色的注意力。共和党去年拒绝延长 ACA 补贴，导致有资格获得特朗普 500 美元支票的人群中，许多人看到他们的保费经常增加数千美元……对于许多将要收到特朗普这笔钱的人来说，这张支票甚至不足以覆盖一个月健康保险费用的差额。
He writes: The most brazen part of Trump’s scheme is the way the checks function as misdirection from his own party’s role in skyrocketing premiums. The GOP’s refusal to extend ACA subsidies last year has caused the subset of people eligible for Trump’s $500 checks to see their premiums increase often by thousands of dollars … For many people who are set to receive Trump’s money, this check won’t even cover the difference in cost for one month of health insurance.
我甚至可以更进一步说，这对那些努力支付健康保险、加油和把食物放在餐桌上的美国人来说，简直是一记耳光 — — 像艾伦·艾伦，一位来自西弗吉尼亚州的65岁老人，她患有严重的眼部疾病，需要昂贵的眼药水来保护视力。她告诉NPR，她依赖《平价医疗法案》的补贴来支付这笔药费。去年，她甚至倡导由共和党控制的国会延长这些补贴。但当国会没有这样做时，她不得不动用退休基金，从2026年1月到8月支付1967美元的保费 — — 每月近2000美元。但至少她拿到了那笔一次性的500美元支票！
I’ll go even further and say that it’s a slap in the face to Americans who are struggling to pay health insurance, to fill their gas tanks and to put food on their tables — like Ellen Allen, a 65-year-old from West Virginia, who has a serious eye condition and needs expensive drops to preserve her vision. She told NPR that she relied on the ACA subsidies to pay for that medication. She even advocated for the Republican-controlled Congress to extend the subsidies last year. When it didn’t, she had to dip into her retirement fund to pay $1,967 for her premiums from January through August 2026. Nearly $2,000 a month. But at least she’s got that one-time $500 check!
艾伦告诉NPR，她认为特朗普的举动只是一个政治噱头：“人们不会被这愚弄……如果他们真想做点有意义的事，他们就会致力于让医疗更负担得起，而不是只是不时发发检查。”我想，金钱买不来美国公众的爱。他们看到特朗普的一块肉 — — 但他们不咬。
Allen told NPR that she believes Trump’s move is just a political stunt: “People aren’t going to be fooled by this … if they wanted to do something meaningful, they would work on affordable healthcare instead of just sending out checks every now and then.”I guess money can’t buy you love from the American public. They see Trump’s slab of meat — but they’re not biting.
特朗普的中期选举金钱宣传是对困苦美国人的一记耳光 MS NOW
The post Trump’s midterm money pitch is a slap in the face to struggling Americans MS NOW