If you stir up a particular mood or situation, usually a bad one, you cause it. [V P n (not pron)] [V n P] [disapproval]
As usual, Harriet is trying to stir up trouble…
像往常一样，哈丽雅特正试图找麻烦。
He said senior government officials were trying to stir up ethnic tension…
他说政府高级官员们正在试图挑起紧张的种族局势。
I thought at first that Jay had been stirring things up.
我起初认为杰伊一直在挑起事端。