特朗普与共和党参议员大打口水仗

A feud between Donald Trump and Bob Corker erupted in spectacular fashion, as the president called the Republican Tennessee senator “incompetent” and was in turn accused of “debasing” the US and being “utterly untruthful”.

唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)和鲍勃•科克(Bob Corker)之间的矛盾以令人瞠目结舌的方式爆发出来，美国总统形容田纳西州共和党参议员“无能”，而科克指责特朗普降低美国的水平，而且“极其不老实”。

Only hours before he was due at a Capitol Hill lunch with Republican senators about tax, Mr Trump lashed out at Mr Corker, who had urged him not to interfere in congressional efforts to pass tax reform.

特朗普在到国会山与共和党参议员们共进午餐、商讨税收改革的几小时前，猛烈抨击了科克，后者之前呼吁他不要干涉国会通过税改的努力。

“Bob Corker, who helped President O give us the bad Iran Deal & couldn’t get elected dog catcher in Tennessee, is now fighting Tax Cuts,” Mr Trump tweeted. “Isn’t it sad that lightweight Senator Bob Corker, who couldn’t get re-elected in the Great State of Tennessee, will now fight Tax Cuts plus”.

“鲍勃•科克，当初帮助奥巴马总统给我们留下糟糕的伊朗核协议、在田纳西州连捕狗者都选不上的那个人，现在在对抗减税政策，”特朗普在Twitter上写道。“轻量级参议员鲍勃•科克，在伟大的田纳西州未能当选连任的人，现在要对抗加强版减税方案，这难道不是很可悲吗?”

Mr Corker responded by tweeting, “Same untruths from an utterly un­truthful president. #AlertTheDaycareStaff”.

科克在Twitter上回应称：“从一个极其不老实的总统嘴里吐出来的老调的假话。#AlertTheDaycareStaff”。

Mr Corker recently exposed the frustration at Mr Trump among Republicans when he said the president was putting America “on a path to World War Three” and said the White House was running an “adult day care centre”.

科克最近表示，总统正把美国“带上通向第三次世界大战的道路”，并称白宫被搞得像一个“成人日托中心”。这番话流露了共和党人圈子对特朗普的那种沮丧情绪。

Talking to CNN yesterday, Mr Corker insinuated that Mr Trump was a liar, saying the president “has great difficulty with the truth”.

科克昨日在对CNN发表谈话时暗示特朗普撒谎，称总统“很难承受真相”。

Mr Corker, who has decided not to seek re-election next year, said he would not vote for Mr Trump again.

已决定明年不再寻求连任的科克，表示他不会再投票给特朗普。

“World leaders are very aware that much of what he says is untrue . . . I don’t know why he lowers himself to such a low, low standard and debases our country,” Mr Corker added.

“世界领导人非常清楚，他说的很多话都是不属实的……我不知道他为什么把自己降低到如此之低的标准，降低我们国家的水平，”科克补充说。

“At the end of the day when his term is over, the debasement of our nation . . . is what he will be remembered most for.”

“最终，在他的任期结束后，降低我们国家的水平……将是他最受世人铭记的生平事迹。”

The extraordinary spat underlines the tensions between Mr Trump and Republican leaders whose support is crucial to passing tax reform and to giving the president his first big legislative win. Mr Trump has criticised Paul Ryan, the House Speaker, and blamed Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader for the failure to repeal Obamacare.

这场不寻常的骂战突显特朗普与共和党领导人之间关系紧张，这些领导人的支持对于通过税改议案、使总统赢得首个重大立法胜利将是至关重要的。此前特朗普已经批评过众议院议长保罗•瑞安(Paul Ryan)，指责参议院多数党领袖米奇•麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)未能废除奥巴马医改。

In an effort to put a gloss on their damaged relations, Mr Trump and Mr McConnell held a joint press conference last week where they stressed that they have a strong relationship, a claim that is disputed privately by many Republican lawmakers.

为粉饰两人之间受损的关系，特朗普和麦康奈尔上周联合举行记者会，强调他们之间的关系是牢固的，但很多共和党议员私下怀疑这种说法。

Two Republican congressional panels — the House ways and means committee and the Senate finance committee — are working to convert a skeleton White House tax proposal into concrete legislation, which they hope to unveil in early November.

两个共和党国会议员小组——众议院筹款委员会(House ways and means committee)和参议院财政委员会(Senate finance committee)——正在努力将白宫的税改纲要提议细化为具体的立法草案，他们希望在11月初公布法案。

Republicans broadly agree on the need for major reform that would in­clude everything from simplification of the tax code to tax cuts, but there are big differences on how to fund the cuts and whether the tax reform package would increase the budget deficit.

共和党人普遍同意需要进行重大改革，包括简化税法和减税，但对于如何填补减税带来的财政收入缺口，以及税改方案会不会增加预算赤字，各方存在较大分歧。

Mr Trump angered some Republicans this week by saying that the tax bill would not affect 401(k) pension plans, after signs that the committees were considering imposing much lower caps on the amount of tax-deferred contributions that people can make to their 401(k) plans. Some lawmakers worry that his public comments will only serve to complicate efforts to craft legislation that can pass Congress.

特朗普本周激怒了一些共和党人，因为他声称税改法案不会影响401(k)养老金计划，而此前已有迹象表明，上述两个委员会正在考虑下调401(k)计划的递延税款供款额的上限。一些议员担心，特朗普的公开表态只会使草拟能够让国会通过的法案的工作复杂化。

“If you start taking things off the table before you get started, you make that very difficult,” Mr Corker said.

“如果你在开始之前就把选项从台面上拿走，你就会让整件事情变得非常困难，”科克表示。

“What I hope is going to happen is the president will leave this effort . . . to the tax-writing committees . . . and not be­gin taking things off the table that ought to be debated in these committees.”

“我希望会发生的情况是，总统把这方面的努力……留给草拟税改法案的两个委员会……而不是开始从台面上拿走本应在这些委员会内部得到辩论的选项。”