特朗普自 1 月 6 日骚乱以来首次重返国会山，共和党欢呼、蛋糕和拳头相碰
【中美创新时报2024 年 6 月 14日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）唐纳德·特朗普周四（13日）凯旋重返国会山，这是他自 2021 年 1 月 6 日袭击事件以来首次与立法者会面，众议院和参议院共和党人充满活力，他们因他重新夺回白宫的努力而重新振作起来。美联社丽莎·马斯卡罗（LISA MASCARO）对此作了如下详细报道。
尽管特朗普因密谋推翻 2020 年大选而面临联邦指控，而且最近在无关的封口费审判中被判有罪，但这位共和党前总统还是以共和党推定候选人的身份大胆登场。他成功地清除了共和党的批评者，让大多数怀疑论者闭嘴，并吸引曾经持批评态度的立法者加入他以“让美国再次伟大”为主题的竞选活动。
在国会大厦对面的共和党竞选总部举行的私人早餐会上，挤满了一屋子的共和党众议员为特朗普唱“生日快乐”。议员们送给他一年一度的国会比赛的棒球和球棒，参议员们后来还赠送了一个美国国旗蛋糕，上面插着“45”根蜡烛——然后是“47”根——指的是下一任总统。特朗普吹嘘说，即使是他为立法者举行的电话集会也能吸引比超级流行歌星泰勒·斯威夫特更多的人群，后者尚未发表任何支持。
在一个引人注目的时刻，特朗普和他最著名的共和党批评者、参议院共和党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔握手并碰拳。
“共和党内部团结一致，”特朗普在参议院共和党总部的简短讲话中说道。
特朗普与众议院和参议院共和党人各呆了大约一个小时，发表了自由的言论，回答了问题并讨论了包括俄罗斯和移民、减税和其他可能的第二任期优先事项在内的问题。
据一位参加私人会议并不愿透露姓名的共和党人称，在早上的会议上，特朗普表示众议院议长迈克·约翰逊做得“非常好”。另一位共和党人说，特朗普问众议院议长的主要共和党批评者、众议员玛乔丽·泰勒·格林是否对约翰逊“很友好”。
“特朗普总统今天早上带来了非凡的活力、兴奋和热情，”约翰逊随后说道，并指出自有罪判决以来筹款额很高。“我们感觉很好。”
共和党议长早些时候曾表示反对，他是否要求特朗普尊重总统权力的和平移交，并承诺不再在 1 月 6 日再次这样做。“当然，他尊重这一点，我们都尊重，我们都谈论过这个问题，已经谈了很久了。”
一群外部团体正在制定新白宫政府的许多潜在优先事项，包括 2025 项目，为行政和立法行动奠定基础，尽管特朗普已经明确表示他有自己的议程。
“任何人都认为这位总统会在这场虚假审判后下台。这只会给他更多的能量，”共和党党鞭汤姆·埃默众议员说。“唐纳德·特朗普正在压倒这次选举。”
但特朗普在国会大厦附近与众议院和参议院共和党人的私人会晤充满了象征意义，象征着他以威胁美国和平移交权力传统的美国总统的身份重返白宫。
“这令人沮丧，”前美国国会警察哈里·邓恩 (Harry Dunn) 说，他在 1 月 6 日之后以马里兰州民主党人的身份竞选国会议员，但未能成功。当天，特朗普的支持者冲进国会大厦，试图推翻乔·拜登总统的选举结果，警方与特朗普的支持者发生了肉搏战。
邓恩谈到特朗普重返该地区，而议员们现在却对他表示拥护，这真是“讽刺”。他说：“这恰恰表明，当他们真正把党派和个人置于国家之上时，他们缺乏骨气。这很可悲。”
拜登周四在海外参加七国集团主要工业化国家峰会，但总统竞选团队发布了一则新广告，指责特朗普点燃了 1 月 6 日的“火焰”，威胁民主。
许多曾经反对特朗普的人早已离任，而那些仍在任的共和党人似乎对他重夺白宫的可能性越来越热衷，这可能意味着共和党在国会的多数席位将大幅增加。
周四下午，特朗普和麦康奈尔多年来首次交锋，麦康奈尔曾将这次“可耻”的袭击归咎于特朗普，称其为“叛乱”，但现在却支持该党的推定候选人。
前总统的盟友、俄克拉荷马州共和党参议员马克韦恩·马林说，特朗普直接谈到了这一情况，称他打算与所有人合作，麦康奈尔作为领导人“已经尽了最大努力”。
据组织此次会议的怀俄明州共和党参议员约翰·巴拉索 (John Barrasso) 称，特朗普向众人致辞后，麦康奈尔竖起了大拇指，两人走近对方，并碰拳致意。
“我们的会晤非常积极，”麦康奈尔说。“他和我有机会聊了几句，握手言和。”
随着世界各地的民主国家受到极右翼势力的威胁，一些分析人士警告称，美国体制一度看似不受独裁主义冲动的影响，但现在正面临民粹主义和极端主义势力的威胁，就像特朗普鼓动他们洗劫国会大厦一样。
“这只是众议院共和党人向唐纳德·特朗普屈服的又一个例子，”众议院民主党党团主席、加利福尼亚州众议员皮特·阿吉拉尔 (Pete Aguilar) 说。
特朗普将 1 月 6 日作为其连任竞选的基石，他称赞那些冲击国会大厦的人是“勇士”和“爱国者”，并誓言要赦免 1,200 多名因袭击美国民主中心而被指控犯罪的人。
此外，特朗普誓言要通过罢免美国司法部官员来寻求报复，美国司法部正在对他提起四项指控，以推翻 1 月 6 日袭击前的选举结果，并就其在 Mar-A-Largo 家中存放机密文件提起另一项诉讼。
共和党人，尤其是众议院的共和党人，但参议院的共和党人也越来越多，正在大力效仿他的做法，抱怨司法系统不公平。这取得了明显的成果：在陪审团裁定他在纽约封口费案中罪名成立后，众议院和参议院共和党竞选部门获得了迄今为止筹款最高的一些时期。
本周，前共和党议长保罗·瑞恩在福克斯新闻上重申，他不会投票给特朗普，并希望共和党有其他总统人选，他立即遭到了特朗普盟友的排斥。
“保罗·瑞恩，你就是个垃圾，”德克萨斯州共和党众议员特洛伊·内尔斯说。“我们应该把你踢出党。”
在 1 月 6 日投票弹劾特朗普并以煽动叛乱罪名判处他有罪的共和党人中，只有少数人仍在任。
缅因州共和党参议员苏珊·柯林斯和阿拉斯加州共和党参议员丽莎·穆尔科斯基原本预计不会参加周四与特朗普的闭门会议。但犹他州共和党参议员米特·罗姆尼和路易斯安那州共和党参议员比尔·卡西迪参加了会议。
卡西迪说，他参加特朗普会议是希望“他将成为下一任总统，所以你们必须合作”。
当被问及是否担心特朗普共和党的方向时，卡西迪说：“让一天的烦恼足够一天了。你可以对明天充满焦虑，但这能改变什么吗？不会。”
美联社记者吉尔·科尔文和玛丽·克莱尔·贾洛尼克对本报道亦有贡献。
题图：共和党总统候选人、前总统唐纳德·特朗普于 2024 年 6 月 13 日星期四抵达华盛顿，在全国共和党参议院委员会与记者交谈。EVAN VUCCI/美联社
附原英文报道：
Cheers, cake, and a fist-bump from GOP as Trump returns to Capitol Hill in a first since Jan. 6 riot
By LISA MASCARO The Associated Press,Updated June 13, 2024
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump arrives to speak with reporters at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Thursday, June 13, 2024, in Washington.EVAN VUCCI/ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump made a triumphant return to Capitol Hill on Thursday, his first with lawmakers since the Jan.6, 2021 attacks, embraced by energized House and Senate Republicans who find themselves reinvigorated by his bid to retake the White House.
Despite pending federal charges against Trump for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, and his recent guilty verdict in an unrelated hush money trial, the Republican former president arrived emboldened as the party’s presumptive nominee. He has successfully purged the GOP of critics, silenced most skeptics and enticed once-critical lawmakers aboard his MAGA-fueled campaign.
A packed room of House Republicans sang “Happy Birthday” to Trump in a private breakfast meeting at GOP campaign headquarters across the street from the Capitol. The lawmakers gave him a baseball and bat from the annual congressional game, and senators later presented an American flag cake with “45″ candles — and then “47″ — referring to the next presidency. Trump bragged that even his telephone rallies for lawmakers could draw bigger crowds than mega-popstar Taylor Swift, who has yet to make any endorsement.
In one remarkable moment, Trump and his most prominent Republican critic, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, shook hands, and fist-bumped.
“There’s tremendous unity in the Republican Party,” Trump said in brief remarks at Senate GOP headquarters.
Trump spent about an hour each with House and Senate Republicans delivering free-wheeling remarks, fielding questions and discussing issues — including Russia and immigration, tax cuts and other priorities for a potential second term.
During the morning session, Trump said House Speaker Mike Johnson is doing a “terrific job,” according to a Republican in the private meeting and granted anonymity to discuss it. Trump asked Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the speaker’s chief Republican critic, if she was being “nice” to Johnson, another Republican said.
“President Trump brought an extraordinary amount of energy, excitement and enthusiasm this morning,” Johnson said afterward, noting high fund-raising tallies since the guilty verdict. “We’re feeling good.”
The Republican speaker had demurred earlier over whether he’s asked Trump to respect the peaceful transfer of presidential power and commit to not doing another Jan. 6. “Of course he respects that, we all do, and we’ve all talked about it, ad nauseum.”
Many potential priorities for a new White House administration are being formulated by a constellation of outside groups, including Project 2025, laying the groundwork for executive and legislative actions, though Trump has made clear he has his own agenda.
“Anybody who thought that this president was going to be down after the sham trial. it’s only giving him even more energy,” said Rep. Tom Emmer, the GOP whip. “Donald Trump is crushing this election.”
But Trump’s private meetings with House and Senate Republicans so close to the Capitol were infused with the symbolism of his return as the U.S. president who threatened the American tradition of the peaceful transfer of power.
“It’s frustrating,” said former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, who made his own unsuccessful run for Congress as a Maryland Democrat in the aftermath of Jan. 6, the day when police engaged in hand-to-hand fighting to stop Trump supporters who stormed the building in an effort to overturn President Joe Biden’s election.
Dunn spoke of the “irony” of Trump returning to the area and lawmakers now embracing him. “It just shows the lack of backbone they have when they’re truly putting party and person over country,” he said. “And it’s sad.”
Biden was overseas Thursday attending a summit of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations, but the president’s campaign unveiled a new ad blaming Trump for lighting the “fire” of Jan. 6 and threatening democracy.
Many of those who once stood up to Trump are long gone from office and the Republicans who remain seem increasingly enthusiastic about the possibility of him retaking the White House, and the down-ballot windfall that could mean for their own GOP majorities in Congress.
Thursday afternoon offered the first encounter in years between Trump and McConnell, who once blamed Trump for the “disgraceful” attack that he called an “insurrection” but now endorses the party’s presumptive nominee.
Trump addressed the situation directly, saying he intends to work with everyone and that McConnell had “done his best” as leader, said Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., an ally of the former president.
According to Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., who organized the conference meeting, after Trump addressed the group McConnell gave a thumbs up and the two approached each other and exchanged the fist-bump.
“We had a really positive meeting,” McConnell said. “He and I got a chance to talk a little bit, shook hands a few times.”
As democracies around the world come under threat from a far-rightward shift, some analysts warn that the U.S. system, once seemingly immune from authoritarian impulses, is at risk of populist and extremist forces like those that Trump inspired to sack the Capitol.
“This is just another example of House Republicans bending the knee to Donald Trump,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, the chairman of the House Democratic caucus.
Making Jan. 6 a cornerstone of his reelection campaign, Trump celebrates those who stormed the Capitol as “warriors” and “patriots,” and he has vowed to pardon any number of the more than 1,200 people charged with crimes for the assault on the seat of U.S. democracy.
Moreover, Trump has vowed to seek retribution by ousting officials at the U.S. Justice Department, which is prosecuting him in a four-count indictment to overturn the election ahead of the Jan. 6 attack and another case over storing classified documents at his Mar-A-Largo home.
Republicans, particularly in the House but increasingly in the Senate, are vigorously following his lead, complaining of an unfair justice system. It’s having noticeable results: the House and Senate GOP campaign arms scored some of their highest fundraising periods yet after a jury found him guilty in the New York hush money case.
When former GOP Speaker Paul Ryan on Fox News reiterated this week that he wouldn’t be voting for Trump and wished Republicans had another choice for president, he was immediately ostracized by Trump allies.
“Paul Ryan, you’re a piece of garbage,” said Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas. “We should kick you out of the party.”
Of the Republicans who voted to impeach Trump over Jan. 6 and convict him on the charge of inciting the insurrection, only a few remain in office.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, had not been expected to attend Thursday’s closed-door session with Trump. But Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, joined as did Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La.
Cassidy said he’s attending the Trump meeting expecting “he’s going to be the next president, so you have to work” together.
Asked if he was concerned about the direction of the Trump Republican Party, Cassidy said: “Let the day’s own troubles be sufficient for the day. You can fill yourself up with anxiety about tomorrow, but will it change a thing? No.”
Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
