The president likes to applaud the work of his underlings(下属，手下)—especially when they are taking down(打倒，拿下) his enemies. Days after the Department of Justice indicted(起诉，控告) the Southern Poverty Law Centre (SPLC), a progressive non-profit, on wire-fraud(电信欺诈) charges, Donald Trump took to Truth Social(① Truth Social（真实社交）...). The defendant, he wrote on April 24th, is “one of the greatest political scams(骗局，欺诈) in American history”. If the allegations prove true, he added, “the 2020 election should be permanently wiped from the books(从记录中抹去).”
总统喜欢赞扬下属的工作——尤其是当他们打倒他的敌人时。司法部以电信欺诈指控起诉南方贫困法律中心（SPLC）这家进步派非营利组织后不久，唐纳德·特朗普就在Truth Social上发帖。他于4月24日写道，被告是“美国历史上最大的政治骗局之一”。他补充说，如果指控属实，“2020年大选应该被永久抹去。”
You could forgive someone who follows politics closely for being confused. The SPLC does not take part in political races. Instead, it is in the business of keeping tabs on(监视，密切注意) America’s hate groups and suing on behalf of(代表，为了) their victims. But in recent years the non-profit has become one of the right’s favourite bogeymen(假想敌，妖怪). Founded in Alabama in the 1970s to fight poverty and racism, it drew lots of justified criticism when it began labelling more mainstream conservative groups and people, such as the Family Research Council(① 成立于1983年，总部华盛顿，致力于...), Moms for Liberty(① 成立于2021年，关注学校课程中的种...) and Ayaan Hirsi Ali(① 曾任荷兰议员，以批评伊斯兰教著称，著...), a writer, as dangerous extremists.
你能原谅一个密切跟踪政治的人感到困惑。SPLC并不参与政治竞选。相反，它的业务是监视美国的仇恨团体并代表受害者提起诉讼。但近年来，这家非营利组织已成为右翼最喜欢的替罪羊之一。它于20世纪70年代在阿拉巴马州成立，旨在与贫困和种族主义作斗争，但当它开始将更多主流保守派团体和个人（如家庭研究委员会、自由妈妈和作家阿雅安·希尔西·阿里）贴上危险极端分子标签时，受到了不少合理的批评。
After Charlie Kirk was assassinated(暗杀，刺杀) in September, it vaulted(跃升至，突然上升) to the top of MAGA(① MAGA是Donald Trump ...)’s enemy list. Elon Musk blamed it for inciting(煽动，激起) the killing by criticising Mr Kirk in a “Hatewatch” newsletter and branding(将...定性为，打标签) his organisation as “authoritarian”. That same month Kash Patel, the FBI director, called the SPLC a “partisan(党派的，偏袒的) smear machine(抹黑机器)” and cut the agency’s longstanding ties with it. Now Mr Trump’s fiercest lawyers are taking aim at a once-great organisation, too.
查理·柯克在九月被暗杀后，SPLC跃升至MAGA敌人名单的榜首。埃隆·马斯克指责SPLC通过在一份“仇恨观察”时事通讯中批评柯克并将其组织定性为“威权主义”来煽动谋杀。同月，FBI局长卡什·帕特尔称SPLC为“党派抹黑机器”，并切断该机构与它的长期联系。现在，特朗普最激烈的律师们也在瞄准这个曾经伟大的组织。