周四，特朗普总统加剧了这场极具争议的政治广告所引发的轩然大波。他支持俄亥俄州共和党州长候选人维韦克·拉马斯瓦米（Vivek Ramaswamy）决定播放该广告的决定。
President Trump intensified the furor over a deeply controversial political ad on Thursday, backing the decision by the GOP’s gubernatorial candidate in Ohio, Vivek Ramaswamy, to run the commercial.
通过这一举动，特朗普进一步激化了这场激烈的中期选举竞争。在此期间，特朗普曾嘲笑密歇根州民主党参选人阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德（Abdul El-Sayed）为“圣战分子”；对南卡罗来纳州民主党参选人安妮·安德鲁斯（Annie Andrews）使用带有歧视性的言论；还经常将德克萨斯州民主党参选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科（James Talarico）称为“塔拉弗里科”（Talafreako）。
In doing so, Trump poured fresh fuel on a bitter midterm campaign that has seen the president deride the Democratic candidate for Senate in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, as a “jihadist”; use an anti-trans slur against Annie Andrews, the Democratic Senate candidate in South Carolina; and habitually refer to James Talarico, the Democratic Senate candidate in Texas, as “Talafreako.”
此外，特朗普还使用埃尔-赛义德的中间名“穆罕默德”（Mohamed）来称呼他，批评者认为这种行为明显带有对伊斯兰教的恐惧情绪。特朗普的这种策略与他长期以来试图通过反复提及前总统奥巴马的中间名“侯赛因”（Hussein）来贬低奥巴马的做法如出一辙。
Trump has also referred to El-Sayed by his middle name, Mohamed, in a way that critics contend is a clear appeal to Islamophobia. The tactic has drawn parallels with Trump’s long record of seeking to “other” former President Obama by repeatedly invoking his middle name, Hussein.
面对这些批评，特朗普回应称：“作为总统，我想怎么称呼他都行。”在周三于南卡罗来纳州举行的集会上，特朗普再次对安德鲁斯使用了侮辱性语言。需要指出的是，安德鲁斯其实并不是跨性别者。
当被问及对特朗普竞选言论的普遍批评时，白宫发言人戴维斯·英格尔（Davis Ingle）通过电子邮件表示：“特朗普总统并不在乎政治正确性，他关心的是让美国再次伟大。美国人民喜欢特朗普的真诚、透明以及高效的工作方式，这就是他为何在2024年11月5日的选举中以压倒性优势获胜的原因。”
Trump has shot back over El-Sayed, contending that, as president, “I can call him whatever the hell I want.”At a Wednesday rally in South Carolina, Trump again used a slur against Andrews, referring to her as “Tr—y Annie.”Andrews is not trans. Asked to respond to general criticism of Trump’s campaign trail rhetoric, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told this column via email: “President Trump doesn’t care about being politically correct, he cares about Making America Great Again. The American people love how authentic, transparent, and effective the President is, which is why he won in a massive landslide victory on November 5, 2024.”
英格尔还声称，在这次中期选举中，选民面临的选择是：要么继续支持特朗普那些符合常识的施政计划，要么选择民主党的极端自由主义政策及其阻碍国家发展的行为。不过目前，拉马斯瓦米制作的广告才是全国政治讨论的焦点。
Ingle also contended that, in relation to the midterms, the choice facing voters is between “doubling down on President Trump’s winning, commonsense agenda or the Democrats’ extreme liberal policies and obstruction.”For the moment, however, it is the Ramaswamy ad that is dominating the national political conversation.
该广告的核心人物是唐娜·亚瑟（Donna Arthur）——她是拉马斯瓦米的民主党对手艾米·阿克顿（Amy Acton）的长期疏远的母亲。
The ad centers upon Donna Arthur, the long-estranged mother of Ramaswamy’s Democratic opponent, Amy Acton.
根据阿克顿的描述，她的童年充满了痛苦与折磨，其中最严重的就是她遭受了继父的多次性虐待。她的继父克莱迪斯·亚瑟（Cledith Arthur）因与未成年人发生性关系而被起诉，起初他拒不认罪。在面临正式审判之前，他与阿克顿的母亲一起逃离了该州；亚瑟于2004年去世。
In Acton’s telling, an extremely troubled childhood included repeated sexual abuse by her stepfather. Her stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was charged for sexual conduct with a minor, and initially pleaded not guilty. He later fled the state with Acton’s mother before he could face a full trial.
在这段广告中，亚瑟称自己的女儿是个“骗子”，并指责她有“严重的心理问题”。这则广告引发了轩然大波。虽然家庭成员有时也会出现在负面政治广告中，但这种情况极为罕见——而且没有哪一则广告的背景故事像阿克顿的案件那样充满创伤性。
He died in 2004. In the ad, Arthur calls her daughter a “liar” with a “serious problem.”The commercial has caused a firestorm. Even though family members have sometimes appeared in negative political ads before, it’s a rare occurrence — and none has had the deeply traumatic backstory of the Acton matter.
包括俄亥俄州州长迈克·德怀恩（Mike DeWine）在内的多名共和党人对这则广告表示强烈批评。即将因任期限制离任的德怀恩称播放这则广告是“错误的”，并称其内容“令人深感不安”。与民主党前参议员谢罗德·布朗（Sherrod Brown）竞争激烈的参议员乔恩·赫斯蒂德（Jon Husted）也表示自己绝不会播放这样的广告。前俄亥俄州州长约翰·卡西奇（John Kasich）也在周四接受MS NOW电视台采访时谴责了这则广告，称其内容“完全不合适”。“人们对这一切的反应只有厌恶，”卡西奇补充道。
Several Republicans have been critical of the ad, including Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R). DeWine, who is leaving office due to term limits, said running the ad was “wrong” and called the commercial “deeply troubling.”Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio), who is in a tight race with Democratic former Sen. Sherrod Brown, has said he would not have run the ad. Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) also condemned the ad, saying during an MS NOW interview on Thursday that “there is nothing appropriate” about the commercial. “The reaction to all of this has been disgust,” Kasich added.
然而，在特朗普政府的高层中，人们的反应却截然不同。曾担任俄亥俄州参议员的副总统彭斯（Vance）周三对记者表示，他的愤怒主要针对那些“对这件事抱怨不休的共和党人”，而非那些民主党人或国会民主党人想要为美国做的事情。周四，特朗普在社交媒体上发文称这则广告“非常有力”，并贬低德怀恩为“可能希望民主党人赢得选举的人”。
That has not been the reaction at the highest levels of the Trump administration, however. Vice President Vance, who previously served as a senator representing Ohio, told reporters on Wednesday that his disgust was focused on those Republicans “who are whining more about that than they are about what the congressional Democrats and other Democrats want to do to the United States of America.”Then, Trump weighed in with a lengthy social media pos t on Thursday in which he praised the ad as “very powerful,” and disparaged DeWine as someone who “probably” wants the Democrat to win the race.
“媒体试图让所有人相信这则广告很糟糕，但实际上它非常有效！谁不会使用这样的广告呢？我肯定会用的……这简直就是‘一记致命一击’！”特朗普继续说道。
“The Press is trying to convince everyone that this Ad is bad, because it’s so good! Who wouldn’t use such an Ad? I would, it’s called, ‘hitting pay dirt,’” Trump continued.
特朗普周四下午对记者发表讲话时暗示，他并不了解阿克顿关于童年受虐的描述。根据随行记者团的报道，总统坚称：“我不知道那个女儿说了什么。”更广泛地说，随着中期选举竞选进入最后阶段，共和党人抨击了部分民主党人使用的措辞，尽管这些事例总体上不如特朗普的攻击那样尖刻和针对个人。
Speaking on Thursday afternoon with reporters, Trump implied he was not aware of Acton’s descriptions of childhood abuse. According to pool reports, the president insisted, “I don’t know what the daughter said.”More broadly, Republicans have hit out at the language used by some Democrats as the midterm campaign hits its final stretch, though those instances have been generally less visceral and personal than Trump’s attacks.
密歇根州民主党参议员埃莉萨·斯洛特金今年不寻求连任，她上周在芝加哥大学的言论引发争议，原因是她谈到如果民主党赢得国会控制权，她的政党应如何运用监督权力。
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), who is not running for reelection this year, sparked controversy with comments at the University of Chicago last week because of the way she said her party should use its oversight powers if it won control of Congress.
斯洛特金说：“我希望走出校门的年轻人会想，‘我该去为特朗普政府工作吗？’……我希望他们会想，‘天哪，那可能会给我惹来一大堆我不想要的麻烦。所以我还是避免参与其中吧。’我希望传递这种威慑信息。”共和党人主张，斯洛特金是在试图恐吓年轻保守派，让他们不敢在政治中扮演更积极的角色。她的辩护者则反驳说，她只是在主张，不当行为应当承担后果。
Slotkin said: “I want young people coming out of school to say, ‘Should I go work for the Trump administration?’ … I want them to be like, ‘Lord, that might be buying myself a ton of problems that I don’t want. And so let me avoid participating in that.’ I want that deterrence message sent.”Republicans contended Slotkin was trying to intimidate young conservatives out of taking on a more active role in politics. Her defenders countered she was merely arguing that wrongdoing should incur consequences.
缅因州民主党参议员候选人特洛伊·杰克逊也因在本月早些时候的一场辩论中对他的共和党对手、参议员苏珊·柯林斯说“闭嘴”而受到批评。
The Democratic Senate candidate in Maine, Troy Jackson, also drew criticism for telling his Republican opponent, Sen. Susan Collins to “shut up” during a debate earlier this month.
共和党人还反对知名民主党人总体上对特朗普及其盟友所使用的措辞。
Republicans also object to the language used by prominent Democrats about Trump and his allies generally.
例如，一个与加利福尼亚州民主党州长加文·纽森结盟的官方账号去年称白宫副幕僚长斯蒂芬·米勒为“法西斯绿帽男”。佐治亚州民主党参议员乔恩·奥索夫今年夏天在一次集会上提到特朗普和白宫助理娜塔莉·哈普时，被广泛认为使用了性暗示。
An official account allied with California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) called White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller a “fascist cuck” last year, for example. Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff (D) was widely seen as using sexual innuendo when he referred to Trump and White House aide Natalie Harp at a rally over the summer.
然而，这些时刻对双方都有影响。副总统同样因本月早些时候在一次集会上暗示得克萨斯州民主党参议员候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科是同性恋而受到广泛批评。这算不上是林肯-道格拉斯式的辩论。
Those moments have cut both ways, however. The vice president was just as widely criticized for insinuating that Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico is gay at a rally earlier this month. It’s not exactly the Lincoln-Douglas debates.
但政治修辞学专家、圣何塞州立大学修辞与写作教授瑞安·斯金内尔指出，社交媒体的爆炸式发展——以及其往往更为粗俗的品味——是这一现象的一部分。
But Ryan Skinnell, an expert in political rhetoric and a professor of rhetoric and writing at San José State University, noted that the explosion of social media — and its often cruder sensibilities — is part of the picture.
“在漫长的媒体历史中，基本上每当出现一种新媒介，这类事情就会发生。你可以看到，在广播、电视、甚至通俗报刊发明之后，这种极端主义都会以各种形式加剧，”他说。
“In a long history of media, this kind of thing happens basically whenever there is a new medium that pops up. You can see versions of this increasing extremism after the invention of radio, or TV, or even the pulp press,” he said.
与此同时，斯金内尔明确表示，他并不认为这一历史规律可以为那些使用煽动性修辞的人——比如特朗普——开脱。
At the same time, Skinnell made clear he does not see that historic pattern as exculpatory of those who engage in inflammatory rhetoric — like Trump.
“当他感到受到威胁时，他的言辞会变得更加极端、更具攻击性，”斯金内尔这样评价总统。
“When he feels threatened. his rhetoric gets more extreme and more aggressive,” Skinnell said of the president.
“当有突发新闻让他显得难堪时，突然间我们就会看到他说出非常极端的言论。临近选举时也是如此。这是一种转移注意力的尝试，让人们不去关注油价上涨之类的问题。如果你对阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德说一些极度排外的话，也许人们就会被分散注意力。”乔治·华盛顿大学政治管理项目教授托德·贝尔特也强调了特朗普的言辞——但指出这是一个更大图景的一部分。
“When there is a breaking news story that makes him look bad, all of a sudden we see him making really extreme claims. Coming in to an election, the same thing. It’s an attempt to distract from issues like the rising cost of gas. If you say something wildly xenophobic about Abdul El-Sayed, maybe people will get distracted.”Todd Belt, a professor in the Political Management program at the George Washington University, also highlighted Trump’s rhetoric — but noted it was part of a bigger picture.
“我们的政治对话正在变得粗俗化，”贝尔特说。“随着时间的推移，我们已经把政治变成了一种更血腥的角斗。”《备忘录》是尼尔·斯坦奇撰写的报道专栏。
“There is a coarsening of our political dialogue,” Belt said. “Over time, we have made politics into more of a bloodsport.”The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage.