美国国家公共电台 NPR When The White House Can't Be Believed

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

As we've been saying, President Trump¹ has reversed himself, signing an executive order that ends the separation of families at the border. That may quell² some of the outrage³ over his policy, but as NPR's David Folkenflik argues, it's not likely to quell questions about whether White House officials are telling the truth.

DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE⁴: This isn't about spin or splitting hairs or differing opinions. This is a reality check about our expectations of the people who act in our name. On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen held a press conference. The White House press corps⁵ was relentless⁶.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: How is this not specifically child abuse?

FOLKENFLIK: Nielsen didn't back down.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)

KIRSTJEN NIELSEN: Those who criticize the enforcement of our laws have offered only one countermeasure - open borders.

FOLKENFLIK: The idea there's only the Trump way or anarchy⁷ doesn't have much currency outside the administration and its allies in conservative media. President Trump's fellow Republicans in Congress have said for days he could change the policy (snapping) like that. The president today says he's done so. Back on Monday, his Homeland secretary embarked⁸ on a series of insupportable assertions.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)

NIELSEN: It's not a policy.

FOLKENFLIK: Yeah, that is a policy. Nielsen herself said there needed to be a break in how presidents Obama and George W. Bush handled people coming across the border. If an intentional⁹ shift in how to deal with people seeking asylum¹⁰ is not a policy, what meaning does the word policy have? Then, there was this.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Are you intending for this to play out as it is playing out? Are you intending for parents to be separated from their children? Are you intending to send a message?

NIELSEN: I find that offensive. No, because why would I ever create a policy that purposely does that?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Perhaps it's deterrence¹¹.

NIELSEN: No.

FOLKENFLIK: Call it a deception¹², an evasion¹³, a technical nicety. NPR will not call it a lie because it cannot gauge¹⁴ Nielsen's intent. I don't speak for the network. I'd say the word lie fits. Regardless, NPR and other news organizations say Nielsen was dead wrong, that there clearly was a policy.

Here's White House chief of staff John Kelly back in May talking with NPR's John Burnett in an interview that made headlines around the world.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

JOHN KELLY: The laws are the laws, but a big name of the game is deterrence. If...

JOHN BURNETT, BYLINE: So family separation stands as a pretty tough deterrent¹⁵.

KELLY: Could be tough deterrent. Would be a tough deterrent.

FOLKENFLIK: Kelly said the same to CNN when considering the policy back in early 2017. So did U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions Monday night on Fox News. So why would Secretary Nielsen seek to deceive the public about that? The tone comes from the top, set that first weekend of Trump's presidency¹⁶ with spurious claims of record crowds at his inauguration¹⁷. It emerged again on Friday.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: But can you tell us?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It's irrelevant¹⁸. It's a statement to The New York Times - the phony, failing New York Times.

FOLKENFLIK: Trump was speaking to a clutch of reporters on the White House lawn. He was justifying¹⁹ untrue claims from his lawyers last year, denying that Trump had anything to do with his son Don Jr.'s statements about meeting with Russians during the 2016 campaign. Don Jr.'s statement turned out to be untrue. So were the denials of the president's involvement. Trump doesn't care.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TRUMP: Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: To clear it up.

TRUMP: That's not a statement to a high tribunal of judges. That's a statement to the phony New York Times.

FOLKENFLIK: So that's what you might well call a double deception - a lie about a lie. I sure would. But what you call it almost doesn't matter. It's that the media and the public register a fundamental fact. Top people speaking for the United States aren't telling the truth, starting with the president. I'm David Folkenflik.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 quell   

v.压制，平息，减轻

参考例句：

• Soldiers were sent in to quell the riots.士兵们被派去平息骚乱。
• The armed force had to be called out to quell violence.不得不出动军队来镇压暴力行动。

3 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

6 relentless   

adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的

参考例句：

• The traffic noise is relentless.交通车辆的噪音一刻也不停止。
• Their training has to be relentless.他们的训练必须是无情的。

7 anarchy   

n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• There would be anarchy if we had no police.要是没有警察，社会就会无法无天。
• The country was thrown into a state of anarchy.这国家那时一下子陷入无政府状态。

8 embarked   

乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事

参考例句：

• We stood on the pier and watched as they embarked. 我们站在突码头上目送他们登船。
• She embarked on a discourse about the town's origins. 她开始讲本市的起源。

9 intentional   

adj.故意的，有意（识）的

参考例句：

• Let me assure you that it was not intentional.我向你保证那不是故意的。
• His insult was intentional.他的侮辱是有意的。

10 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

11 deterrence   

威慑，制止； 制止物，制止因素； 挽留的事物； 核威慑

参考例句：

• An extreme school of "disarmers" pronounced stable deterrence was a dangerous deception. “裁军论者”中的极端派声称，稳定的威摄是一种危险的骗局。
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。

12 deception   

n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计

参考例句：

• He admitted conspiring to obtain property by deception.他承认曾与人合谋骗取财产。
• He was jailed for two years for fraud and deception.他因为诈骗和欺诈入狱服刑两年。

13 evasion   

n.逃避，偷漏(税)

参考例句：

• The movie star is in prison for tax evasion.那位影星因为逃税而坐牢。
• The act was passed as a safeguard against tax evasion.这项法案旨在防止逃税行为。

14 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

15 deterrent   

n.阻碍物，制止物；adj.威慑的，遏制的

参考例句：

• Large fines act as a deterrent to motorists.高额罚款是对开车的人的制约。
• I put a net over my strawberries as a deterrent to the birds.我在草莓上罩了网，免得鸟歇上去。

16 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

17 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

18 irrelevant   

adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的

参考例句：

• That is completely irrelevant to the subject under discussion.这跟讨论的主题完全不相关。
• A question about arithmetic is irrelevant in a music lesson.在音乐课上，一个数学的问题是风马牛不相及的。

19 justifying   

证明…有理( justify的现在分词 )； 为…辩护； 对…作出解释； 为…辩解（或辩护）

参考例句：

• He admitted it without justifying it. 他不加辩解地承认这个想法。
• The fellow-travellers'service usually consisted of justifying all the tergiversations of Soviet intenal and foreign policy. 同路人的服务通常包括对苏联国内外政策中一切互相矛盾之处进行辩护。