Drone Ports and Funding Mayhem: Trump’s Ballroom Has Turned Toxic

无人机停机坪与资金乱局：特朗普的宴会厅已成“烫手山芋”

President Donald Trump is squeezing Republicans to do his bidding on the ballroom. 唐纳德·特朗普总统正在向共和党人施压，要求他们满足他在宴会厅项目上的意愿。

White House officials are pushing Republicans in Congress to approve $1 billion in security enhancements for Trump’s ballroom on grounds that it would be bad optics for private donors to pay for the presidential bunker underneath, according to two people familiar with the matter. 据两位知情人士透露，白宫官员正在推动国会共和党人批准10亿美元，用于特朗普宴会厅的安保升级。其理由是，如果由私人捐赠者来支付下方总统地堡的费用，在舆论观感上会非常糟糕。

The White House has said the ballroom itself has been paid for by donors like tech giants Apple, Meta, and Amazon, but there has been concern about these companies or rich donors effectively sponsoring a bunker. 白宫方面表示，宴会厅本身的费用已由苹果、Meta和亚马逊等科技巨头以及其他捐赠者支付，但外界担心这些公司或富有的捐赠者实际上是在资助一个地堡。

The proposed security measures for the East Wing broadly fall into two buckets, the people say: the below-ground bunker and above-ground elements that plan to include bulletproof glass and a roof that hides a counteroffensive drone port and rocket launchers. 知情人士称，针对东翼的安保措施大致分为两类：地下地堡，以及包括防弹玻璃和隐藏式反制无人机停机坪及火箭发射器的地上设施。

The bunker is under construction for now with money Congress appropriated last year for White House security, the people say, but that funding from last year is not expected to cover all of the proposed security measures that Trump wants for the construction. 据称，地堡目前正利用国会去年拨付的白宫安保资金进行施工，但去年的这笔拨款预计无法覆盖特朗普为该建筑所要求的全部安保措施。

If the $1 billion is not approved, Trump’s aides have warned lawmakers there may have to be cutbacks to the proposed security measures at a time that Trump has faced repeated attempts on his life, according to a Republican leadership source. 据一位共和党领导层消息人士透露，特朗普的助手们已警告议员，如果这10亿美元未获批准，在特朗普屡次遭遇暗杀企图的背景下，拟议的安保措施可能不得不缩减。

The White House does need security upgrades. For instance, while Congress installed hardened windows after the January 6 Capitol riot, the shoot-out between a gunman and secret service agents in front of the White House over the weekend revived concerns that part of the West Wing wasn’t appropriately secure. 白宫确实需要进行安保升级。例如，尽管国会在1月6日国会山骚乱后安装了加固窗户，但上周末白宫门前发生的枪手与特勤局特工之间的交火，再次引发了人们对西翼部分区域安保措施不足的担忧。

Still, in conversations with WIRED, lawmakers have privately grumbled that the reason the White House is now in need of money for a bunker is because Trump ripped out the existing one when he bulldozed the East Wing last year without first securing funding from Congress. 尽管如此，议员们在与《连线》（WIRED）杂志交谈时私下抱怨称，白宫现在之所以需要资金修建地堡，是因为特朗普去年在拆除东翼时，在未获得国会拨款的情况下就拆毁了原有的地堡。

As a result, the White House has now off-loaded the bunker problem of Trump’s own making onto Congress. 结果，白宫现在将特朗普自己制造的地堡问题甩给了国会。

Trump’s aides privately acknowledge that Republicans are in a tough spot because the idea of giving the president $1 billion for a construction project while the Iran war continues and gas prices remain high remains politically toxic. 特朗普的助手们私下承认，共和党人正处于两难境地，因为在伊朗战争持续、油价居高不下的情况下，给总统10亿美元用于建筑项目在政治上依然极具争议。

But there is little sympathy from the White House. “Republicans are just going to have to suck it up and get it done,” said one Trump aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity to relay the White House’s thinking. 但白宫方面几乎没有表现出同情。“共和党人只能忍气吞声，把这件事办成，”一位要求匿名以传达白宫想法的特朗普助手说道。

That is in large part because there are few priorities as close to Trump’s heart as his ballroom. In recent days and weeks, he has been poring over renderings and tinkering with design details for the building, say two people familiar with his level of interest. 这在很大程度上是因为，很少有事情能像他的宴会厅这样让特朗普如此上心。据两位了解他关注程度的人士称，在最近的几天和几周里，他一直在仔细研究效果图，并反复推敲建筑的设计细节。

Lately, Trump has been fixated on the White House complex’s exterior. Over the weekend, as the US passed notes back and forth with mediators to strike a preliminary deal to end the Iran war, the president was spotted inspecting the columns outside the White House residence. 最近，特朗普一直专注于白宫建筑群的外观。上周末，当美国与调解人往来沟通以达成结束伊朗战争的初步协议时，有人看到总统正在视察白宫官邸外的柱子。

Trump decided months ago that he wants Corinthian columns for the East Wing, which feature highly decorative acanthus leaves and spirals at the top of the fluted shafts, compared to the simpler spirals of Ionic columns that are on the residence. 特朗普几个月前就决定，他希望东翼采用科林斯式柱，其特点是在凹槽柱身的顶部有装饰华丽的莨苕叶和螺旋纹，而官邸现有的爱奥尼柱式则相对简洁。

In a statement, White House spokesperson David Ingle defended the funding as necessary for the Secret Service. 白宫发言人大卫·英格尔（David Ingle）在一份声明中为这笔资金辩护，称其对特勤局来说是必要的。

“The money in this bill will be used for a host of reasons, which include but are not limited to, hardening security for the White House complex, additional protection for protectees, the Special Operations Division, training, and extra security for high-profile events of national significance,” says Davis. 戴维斯表示：“该法案中的资金将用于多种用途，包括但不限于加强白宫建筑群的安保、为受保护人员提供额外保护、特种作战部门、培训以及为具有国家意义的高规格活动提供额外安保。”

In response to lawsuits filed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation challenging the legality of the construction, US district judge Richard Leon ordered a pause in April on above-ground construction until Congress authorizes the project, though Leon’s ruling has been paused pending appeal. 针对国家历史保护信托基金（National Trust for Historic Preservation）就施工合法性提起的诉讼，美国地方法官理查德·莱昂（Richard Leon）在4月份下令暂停地上施工，直到国会批准该项目，尽管莱昂的裁决目前因上诉而处于暂停状态。

Republicans now have a small window to figure out whether the White House will get the full $1 billion, part of the package, or none at all. 共和党人现在有一个短暂的窗口期，来决定白宫最终是获得全部10亿美元、部分资金，还是分文不得。

Last week, Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough blocked Republicans from attaching money for the White House ballroom to an immigration-enforcement funding package. But even if Senate Republican leadership does find a new way to add $1 billion to the immigration-enforcement bill, they still need to get the votes (including from the senators who are happy to defy Trump after he backed their primary opponents). 上周，参议院议事规则专家伊丽莎白·麦克多诺（Elizabeth MacDonough）阻止了共和党人将白宫宴会厅的资金附加到移民执法拨款法案中。但即使参议院共和党领导层找到了将10亿美元加入移民执法法案的新方法，他们仍然需要获得足够的票数（包括那些在特朗普支持其初选对手后乐于反抗他的参议员的选票）。

“This one is not the parliamentarian’s fault is my understanding,” Republican senator John Kennedy of Louisiana told reporters last week. “It’s the votes aren’t there, plainly and simply.” “据我了解，这并不是议事规则专家的错，”路易斯安那州共和党参议员约翰·肯尼迪（John Kennedy）上周告诉记者。“简单明了地说，就是票数不够。”

This is an edition of Hugo Lowell’s Inner Loop newsletter. Read previous newsletters here. 这是雨果·洛厄尔（Hugo Lowell）的《Inner Loop》通讯。点击此处阅读往期通讯。