联邦反欺诈特别工作组的初衷本身并非荒谬。独立估算显示，每年因欺诈和滥用职权而损失的资金高达数十亿美元，如果官员有可信的应对思路，那自然是好事。然而，白宫反欺诈特别工作组启动七个多月来，问题清单并不短。
The idea behind a federal anti-fraud task force is not inherently absurd. Independent estimates show billions of dollars are lost every year to fraud and abuse, and if officials have a credible idea about how to combat the problem, more power to them. Seven months after the launch of the White House’s anti-fraud task force, however, the list of problems is not short.
从一开始就有充足理由持怀疑态度。唐纳德·特朗普表示，该行动将由JD·万斯牵头，这是一个不幸的人选：副总统不仅不胜任这项任务，而且政府几乎未作掩饰其党派政治动机，这意味着它急于将矛头指向蓝州。
From the outset, there was ample reason for skepticism. The effort, Donald Trump said, would be led by JD Vance, who was an unfortunate choice: Not only was the vice president unqualified for such a task, but the administration made little effort to hide its partisan political motivations, which meant it was eager to target blue states.
更有甚者，鉴于总统本人在实施欺诈、从欺诈中获益以及赦免已被定罪欺诈者方面的不光彩记录，这是一个棘手的问题。
What’s more, this is a delicate issue for the president, given his unfortunate record on committing fraud, benefiting from fraud, and issuing pardons to those who have been convicted of fraud.
雪上加霜的是特别工作组的实际表现：万斯坚称他和团队已发现超过2600亿美元的欺诈，但这些说法在审视下基本站不住脚。鉴于此，白宫似乎正试图采取新策略：众包。
Making matters worse is the task force’s actual performance: Vance insists he and his team have uncovered more than $260 billion in fraud, but those claims have largely unraveled under scrutiny. With this in mind, the White House is apparently trying a new tack: crowdsourcing.
周二下午，特朗普和万斯宣布了一项2500万美元的举报人奖励计划，由司法部负责管理，旨在向发现并举报欺诈案件的人提供现金奖励。
On Tuesday afternoon, Trump and Vance announced a $25 million whistleblower program, to be administered by the Justice Department, which is designed to offer cash rewards to those who uncover and report cases of fraud.
我想这有可能取得惊人成功，美国人能识别出共和党政府难以识别的系统性问题。（特朗普在椭圆形办公室的发布会上专门表示：“人们将通过举报他人赚取数百万美元。”）但最好还是降低预期。
I suppose it’s possible that this will be an amazing success, and Americans will succeed in identifying the kind of systemic problems that the Republican administration has struggled to identify. (Trump specifically said at the Oval Office announcement, “People will make millions of dollars by turning others in.”)
首先，这个举报机制本身就存在严重的问题：人们应该将相关线索提交到 fraud.gov 网站；对于那些成功协助破获欺诈案件或促使联邦执法部门采取行动的人，政府承诺会给予最高 3 万美元的奖励。但这样一来，就没有任何机制能够阻止大量人提交毫无根据的举报——而调查人员却不得不逐一审查这些举报内容。我特别感兴趣的是：会有多少美国人举报与特朗普及其团队有关的欺诈行为。
But it’s probably best to keep expectations low. First, the mechanism is a mess. People are supposed to submit tips to fraud.gov, with the promise of up to $30,000 to those who uncover cases that lead to criminal convictions or “significant federal enforcement” actions. What’s to stop scores of people from submitting baseless allegations, each of which investigators would be expected to review? Nothing. (I’ll be especially interested in seeing how many Americans report instances of alleged fraud involving Trump and his team.)
其次，第一个收到这笔由纳税人资金支付的奖励的人是尼克·雪莉（Nick Shirley），他是一位右翼 YouTube 内容创作者，根本不配获得这样的奖励；他的获奖情况进一步凸显了这一举措其实只是政治上的权宜之计罢了。
Second, the first recipient of a taxpayer-funded check is Nick Shirley, a right-wing YouTube influencer, who’s undeserving of such a reward, and whose payout reinforces concerns that this endeavor is little more than a political gambit.
第三，白宫的工作人员似乎没有做好充分的准备工作。特朗普声称，根据他的计划，举报者将可以获得所揭露欺诈行为所涉及金额的 1% 作为奖励；但一位记者提醒他：根据《虚假申报法》（该法律已实施超过 150 年），举报者实际上有权获得 10% 至 25% 的奖励金额。
Third, the White House staff doesn’t appear to have done its homework. The president said, under his plan, tipsters will be eligible for 1% of the cost of the disclosed fraud, prompting a reporter to remind him that under the False Claims Act, which has been on the books for more than 150 years, Americans are eligible to collect between 10 and 25%.
第四，考虑到本届政府对待举报者的态度（他们一直对举报者不公正），白宫推出这样的举报计划实在具有讽刺意味。
Fourth, given the way this administration has mistreated whistleblowers, it’s rather ironic to see the White House launch a whistleblower program like this one. Finally, there’s Trump’s vision of his hands-on role in the program.
最后，特朗普还表达了自己希望亲自参与该计划的意愿：“在进行这类事情时，往往会出现关于‘谁应该举报、谁没有举报、以及谁应该获得多少奖励、何时获得奖励’的争议。因此，我会采取一个我认为大家会喜欢的做法：我会亲自担任所有这些决定的仲裁者。”换句话说，虽然这个举报计划实际上是由司法部负责执行的，但特朗普却打算亲自介入，从他本应处理的日常工作中抽出时间来裁决某些案件并批准奖励的发放。那么，这个计划究竟还会出现哪些问题呢？
“When you do these things, sometimes there’s a dispute about who turned them in, who didn’t turn them in, and who is supposed to get what and when,” the president said. “So I am going to do something which I think people will like: I will be the arbitrator of all of these decisions. In other words, I’ll determine whether or not the person is deserving.”In other words, the Justice Department is administering the program, but Trump expects to personally intervene, taking time from the day job he’s supposed to be doing, to adjudicate certain cases and approve payouts. What could possibly go wrong?