“THE CORRUPTION IS AT LEVELS RARELY SEEN BEFORE,” Donald Trump posted on Truth Social(特朗普自创的社交媒体平台) in February 2025. He was not referring to(指的是，提及) his own administration, but to the US Agency for International Development (USAID). “CLOSE IT DOWN!” the president added.
“腐败程度前所未见，”唐纳德·特朗普于2025年2月在Truth Social上发帖。他指的不是自己的政府，而是美国国际开发署（USAID）。“关闭它！”总统补充道。
Just a few hours later USAID was in effect(实际上，事实上) closed down(关闭，停业), with most of the staff placed on indefinite(无限期的，不确定的) administration leave. This was framed(被构陷，被描述为) as part of Trump’s “America first” agenda. USAID, the Trump administration and his sycophants(谄媚者，马屁精) in the rightwing media had argued, was wasting taxpayers’ hard-earned(辛苦挣来的) money on ridiculous projects abroad instead of improving life at home. In the lead-up to(在…前夕，在…准备阶段) the shuttering(关闭，停业) of USAID, for example, one of the most shameless(无耻的，不要脸的) lies about the agency, repeated without any evidence by the likes of(像…之类的人或事物) Fox News(福克斯新闻，美国右翼媒体), was that it was spending millions on condoms for Gaza.
仅仅几小时后，USAID实际上被关闭，大部分员工被无限期行政休假。这被标榜为特朗普“美国优先”议程的一部分。特朗普政府及其右翼媒体中的谄媚者曾辩称，USAID浪费纳税人辛苦赚来的钱，在国外搞荒唐项目，而不是改善国内生活。在USAID关闭前夕，关于该机构最无耻的谎言之一——福克斯新闻等媒体毫无证据地反复传播——是它花费数百万美元为加沙购买避孕套。
Now that(既然，由于) humanitarian aid has been slashed(大幅削减，砍掉) in the name of(以…的名义，为了…) putting America first, is taxpayer money staying in the country? Not quite. A lot is still going abroad. But instead of being used to help the world’s most impoverished(贫困的，赤贫的) people, that money is going to thinktanks(智库，智囊团) across Europe set up by(由…建立) multimillionaires(千万富翁，大富豪) who want to take Trumpism(特朗普主义) global.
既然人道主义援助已以“美国优先”的名义被大幅削减，纳税人的钱是否留在了国内？并不尽然。大量资金仍流向国外。但这些钱并未用于帮助世界上最贫困的人们，而是流向了欧洲各地的智库——这些智库由希望将特朗普主义推向全球的千万富翁们设立。