REPUBLICANS ARE learning that, occasionally, you can say “no” to Donald Trump. On May 18th his administration announced a $1.8bn fund to compensate victims of government “lawfare(法律战)”—read, a slush fund(贿赂基金) for allies—provoking fury among some Republicans. “Utterly stupid, morally wrong” was how Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky described it. “I call it a payout pot for punks(痞子奖金池),” said Thom Tillis, a senator from North Carolina. The uproar has derailed(使脱轨；破坏) progress on one of the president’s other priorities: a long-awaited $70bn immigration-enforcement bill.
共和党人正在认识到，偶尔你也可以对唐纳德·特朗普说“不”。5月18日，他的政府宣布设立一项18亿美元基金，用于补偿政府“法律战”的受害者——说白了，就是给盟友的贿赂基金——这激起了部分共和党人的愤怒。“极其愚蠢，道德上错误”，肯塔基州参议员米奇·麦康奈尔这样评价。北卡罗来纳州参议员汤姆·蒂利斯说：“我称之为‘痞子奖金池’。”这场争议已经破坏了总统另一优先事项的进展：一项期待已久的700亿美元移民执法法案。
Such defiance is new. Since Mr Trump returned to office, Republican lawmakers have bent to his will, backing crackpot(疯子；怪人)s for cabinet posts and giving him free rein(自由支配权) on everything from tariffs to military action. Now, bracing for(为……做准备) big losses in the midterms, some Republicans are beginning to push back against the president, whether out of principle or in an effort to limit the political damage he has caused. Others may simply want revenge. On May 26th John Cornyn of Texas became the latest sitting senator to lose a primary to a Trump-backed challenger. He will remain in office for another seven months—plenty of time to settle scores(清算旧账；报复).
这样的反抗是新鲜的。自特朗普先生重新执政以来，共和党议员们一直屈从于他的意志，支持疯子入主内阁，并在从关税到军事行动等一切事务上给他自由。现在，为中期选举的重大失利做准备，一些共和党人开始反击总统，无论是出于原则还是为了限制他造成的政治损害。其他人可能只是想报复。5月26日，得克萨斯州的约翰·科宁成为最新一位在初选中输给特朗普支持对手的现任参议员。他还将在任七个月——有足够的时间清算旧账。
There are nine lame-duck(跛脚鸭（任期将满的官员）) Republican senators, many of whom have long-running feuds with the president. Mr McConnell, for example, has called him “a despicable(可鄙的；卑鄙的) human being”. Mr Tillis announced his retirement less than 24 hours after incurring(招致（愤怒等）) Mr Trump’s wrath for voting against his “Big Beautiful Bill”. Together with moderates from states that reward political independence, they form a kind of YOLO caucus. Whether liberated by retirement or insulated by local politics, they no longer fear MAGA voters enough to fall obediently into line(乖乖服从；顺从地站队). And given Republicans’ slim congressional majorities, it would not take many defections(叛离；倒戈) to bring Mr Trump’s agenda to a standstill.
有九位跛脚鸭共和党参议员，其中许多人与总统有长期宿怨。例如，麦康奈尔先生曾称他是“可鄙的人”。蒂利斯先生在投票反对特朗普的“大美法案”后不到24小时就宣布退休。与来自奖励政治独立的州的温和派一起，他们形成了一个YOLO党团。无论是因退休而解放，还是因地方政治而免受冲击，他们不再害怕MAGA选民到乖乖听话的程度。鉴于共和党在国会占微弱多数，不需要太多背叛就能让特朗普的议程陷入停滞。