几十年来，共和党人一直维护国家安全，捍卫美国担当领导角色的道义精神。特朗普正在他们眼皮底下将这些原则撕得粉碎。自由主义者怎么想并不重要，独立人士、媒体以及美国外交部门怎么想也不重要。唯一有能力让特朗普负起责任的只有共和党人。他们现在却视而不见。
If America’s political system were working as it should, Donald Trump would be in serious trouble. Either Congress would be taking steps that could ultimately lead to impeachment, or people around the president would have concluded him unfit for office. But Mr. Trump retains an ace up his sleeve. No elected Republican dares cross him. Any who think of standing up to him know they would risk an electronic lynching that could finish their career. Just ask Jeb Bush.
如果美国的政治体制还在正常运转的话，唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)就有大麻烦了。要么国会将采取措施，最终甚至可能发起弹劾，要么身边的人断定他不适合担任总统。但特朗普还留有一步制胜绝招。那些经过选举的共和党人谁也没胆公开反对他。任何有意站起来反对他的人都知道，他们将冒着遭受“网络私刑”的风险，最终可能葬送自己的仕途。问问杰布•布什(Jeb Bush)就知道了。
America’s government is at a dangerous impasse. Most people know Mr. Trump is unfit to be commander-in-chief. But nobody with the power to redress it has found the courage to act.
美国政府正处于危险的僵局之中。大部分人都知道，特朗普不适合担任最高领导。但有能力矫正这种局面的人，目前没有一个有勇气采取行动。
The tragedy for America — and the world — is that this is likely to persist at least until next year’s US midterm elections. Even overt signs that Mr. Trump is trying to obstruct justice, which was the first article of impeachment against Richard Nixon, are glossed over. Between a quarter and a third of Americans are diehard Trump supporters. They have the power to eject rebel Republicans in primary elections.
对美国乃至整个世界而言，悲剧在于，这种状况很可能至少要持续到明年美国中期选举。就连那些显示特朗普正试图妨碍司法公正的明显迹象也被遮掩，而妨碍司法公正是理查德•尼克松(Richard Nixon)弹劾案中的首条指控。介于四分之一到三分之一的美国人是特朗普的铁杆支持者，他们有能力在初选中让不服的共和党人出局。
Trumpians are stoked by a closed ecosystem of news sites that presents the world in a radically different light to the rest of the media. Thus Mr. Trump did not fire James Comey last week. The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation resigned, according to Fox News. Likewise, Mr. Trump did not disclose vital intelligence to Russia’s foreign minister. Nor did he put pressure on Mr. Comey to shut down the investigation into Michael Flynn, Mr. Trump’s first national security adviser. These are fake stories.
不断煽动特朗普支持者的是一个封闭的新闻网站生态系统，这些新闻网站呈现给读者的世界与其他媒体所描述的截然不同。因此，詹姆斯•科米(James Comey)上周并非被特朗普炒掉。根据福克斯新闻(Fox News)的报道，这位美国联邦调查局(FBI)局长是自己辞职的。同样，特朗普未向俄罗斯外长泄露关键情报。特朗普也未向科米施压，要求后者停止调查其首任国家安全顾问迈克尔•弗林(Michael Flynn)。这些都是编造的新闻。
Most of the sites ignored this week’s revelations and focused on the shooting of Seth Rich, a Democratic staffer who had apparently forwarded thousands of emails to WikiLeaks last summer. Readers were left in no doubt that Hillary Clinton, or people close to her, were involved in Mr. Rich’s murder.
多数此类网站都无视本周曝光的真相，而是聚焦于赛思•里奇(Seth Rich)遭枪杀事件，据称这位民主党全国委员会工作人员去年曾向维基解密(WikiLeaks)转发了数千封电子邮件。这些网站可以让读者们深信，希拉里•克林顿(Hillary Clinton)或者其身边的人一定与里奇被杀案有牵连。
We should not underestimate the power Mr. Trump draws from these alternative narratives. Whenever the elites express outrage at his actions, his supporters take pleasure in their anguish. Mr. Trump knows how to cater to his base. If that means passing secrets to the Russians the day after firing the man investigating his campaign’s alleged Russia collusion, all the better. Scholars call this “negative partisanship”. People no longer join a party because they believe in its agenda but because they despise the other one. By mocking his opponents, Mr. Trump is literally delivering on what he promised. It is a mandate for nihilism.
我们不应低估特朗普从这些“另类叙事”中获得的影响力。每当精英们对他的行为表示愤慨，特朗普支持者便会以他们的痛苦为乐。特朗普知道如何迎合自己的基础选民。如果这意味着他得炒掉调查其竞选团队涉嫌“通俄”的官员，第二天又向俄罗斯人传递机密情报，这反而更好。学者们称这种情形为“消极党争”。人们不再因相信某党的议程而加入该党，而是因为他们讨厌另一党。通过嘲弄自己的对手，特朗普实际上正在兑现自己的承诺。其所负使命是虚无主义的。
This poses a terrible dilemma for Republicans. Some are hoping to bide their time until midterm elections. Mr. Trump’s approval ratings are so low that if the polls were held today Republicans would lose control of the House of Representatives, and possibly the Senate. At that point, Republicans would start to abandon Mr. Trump’s ship. Democrats may well campaign on a promise to impeach Mr. Trump. But that is almost 18 months away. Other Republicans are hoping to extract what they can before the Titanic starts to sink.
这将让共和党人面临糟糕的进退两难境地。部分共和党人希望在中期选举前等待时机。特朗普的支持率如此之低，如果现在举行议会选举的话，共和党人将失去对众议院的控制权，甚至可能失去对参议院的控制权。到那时，共和党人将开始放弃特朗普这艘大船。而民主党人大可借承诺弹劾特朗普为自己宣传造势。但那将是一年半以后的事了。其他共和党人则希望在巨轮沉没前尽可能地达成一些目标。
Most, such as Paul Ryan, the House Speaker, are prepared to suffer the indignity of working with Mr. Trump if it gives them the chance to pass a big tax cut. In Mr. Ryan’s view, such a cut would unleash America’s animal spirits and restore freedom to individuals.
多数共和党人，如众议院议长保罗•瑞安(Paul Ryan)，已准备好忍受与特朗普共事的屈辱，如果这样做能让他们有机会通过大规模减税法案的话。在瑞安看来，如此规模的减税将释放美国的“动物精神”，并让自由回归个人。
It is a coherent position. But Mr. Trump keeps making it harder for Mr. Ryan to build the case for it. The chances are now at least as good that the firestorm around Mr. Trump will engulf his economic agenda. Even if Mr. Ryan can pull off tax reform, would the bargain have been worth it? The answer is no. Taxes rise and fall. But a great party cannot erase how it acted at a critical moment in the history of the republic.
这是瑞安一贯的立场。但特朗普一直在给瑞安推动减税法案加大难度。发生以下情况的概率至少一样大：围绕特朗普的风暴将吞没他的经济议程。况且，即使瑞安能够完成税改，这种交易是否值得呢？答案是否定的。税赋时升时降。但一个伟大政党无法抹去在合众国历史上关键时刻自身作为的纪录。
For decades Republicans have stood for national security and the moral fibre of American leadership. Mr. Trump is tearing up those principles before their eyes. It does not matter what liberals think. Ditto for independents, the media and the US diplomatic service. The only people with the power to hold Mr. Trump to account are Republicans. They are turning a blind eye. Just a handful of the 290 Republicans in Congress have called for a special prosecutor to investigate Mr. Trump. My bet is that, if they were secretly balloted, a majority would support the idea.
几十年来，共和党人一直维护国家安全，捍卫美国担当领导角色的道义精神。特朗普正在他们眼皮底下将这些原则撕得粉碎。自由主义者怎么想并不重要，独立人士、媒体以及美国外交部门怎么想也不重要。唯一有能力让特朗普负起责任的只有共和党人。他们现在却视而不见。在国会290名共和党人中，只有少数几位呼吁指派一名特别检察官调查特朗普。我敢打赌，如果进行秘密投票表决，大多数共和党人会支持这一想法。
It is possible more Republicans will come into the open when Mr. Trump selects a new FBI head to replace Mr. Comey. If he nominates a stooge, the fallout will be hard to contain. More devastating leaks from the intelligence agencies could also tip the waverers. Until then, however, Republicans are sticking to their Trumpian bargain. They had better hope those tax cuts are worth it.
当特朗普为FBI挑选一名新局长来接替科米时，或许将有更多的共和党人站出来公开表态。如果他提名一个傀儡，后果如何演变将很难控制。来自情报机构的更多骇人的爆料也可能令犹豫不决的人转变立场。然而，在那之前，共和党人仍将坚持与特朗普做交易。他们只能希望那些减税措施值得他们这样做。
