时代周刊 总统议程最有力的执行者 杰夫·塞申斯(1)

THE ENFORCER

执行者

JEFF SESSIONS IS CHANGING AMERICA FOR DONALD TRUMP¹, WHETHER THE PRESIDENT APPRECIATES IT OR NOT

杰夫·塞申斯正在为唐纳德·特朗普改变美国，不管总统是否领情

BY MOLLY BALL

文/莫莉·鲍尔

WHEN JEFF SESSIONSWAS A BOY OF 7 OR 8, HE HAD a dog that followed him everywhere.

杰夫·塞申斯七八岁的时候，他有一只跟他寸步不离的小狗。

But one day, the dog got him in trouble.

然而，有一天，那只狗给他惹了麻烦。

Sessions had run with the mutt into the woods of rural Alabama, figuring it knew where it was going.

塞申斯跟着这那只小傻狗跑进了亚拉巴马州乡下的一片树林里，以为它自己知道方向。

By the time he realized he was wrong, the two of them were hopelessly lost.

当他意识到自己错了的时候，他们两个已经彻底迷路了。

“They closed all the stores and everyone had to go looking for me,” Sessions recalled with a chuckle².

“大家关了所有的店铺，所有人都去找我了，”塞申斯笑着回忆说。

“My excuse was, I was just following him.”

“我就借口说我是跟着小狗才迷路的。”

Sessions told me this story on March 15—the day before he fired former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe—

塞申斯是3月15——也就是他解雇前联邦调查局副局长安德鲁·麦凯布的前一天——给我讲的这个故事，

from his blue vinyl club chair on the military jet that had whisked the U.S. Attorney General away from Washington.

当时他正坐在那架曾经载着这位司法部长飞速离开华盛顿的军用飞机的蓝色塑料太空椅里。

It had the ring of a parable³: beware those who seem the most loyal to you; it is they who will lead you astray.

这个故事有种寓言的意味：要提防那些看似对你最为忠诚的人；因为把你引入歧途的正是他们。

Donald Trump once followed Sessions’ lead,

唐纳德·特朗普曾经追随塞申斯的领导，

promising⁴ as a candidate the crackdowns on crime, immigration and trade for which Sessions crusaded in the Senate.

作为一名候选人，塞申斯就表现出了打击犯罪、移民和贸易等他后来在参议院热切改革的问题的能力。

The first Senator to endorse⁵ Trump, Sessions gave him credibility with the far right and provided the intellectual framework for his law-andorder sloganeering.

作为第一位支持特朗普的参议员，塞申斯让特朗普得到了极右派的信任，还为他的法治口号提供了理论框架。

And as Attorney General, he has turned Trump’s rhetoric⁶ into reality, emerging as the most effective enforcer of the President’s agenda.

作为司法部长，他把特朗普的言论变成了现实，成了总统议程最有效的执行者。

But if the fixation on law and order brought Sessions and Trump together, it is also what has rent them asunder⁷.

然而，如果说对法律和秩序的执着让塞申斯和特朗普走到了一起，那么，让两人分道扬镳的也是这一执着。

When Sessions recused himself a year ago from the investigation⁸ into Russian meddling⁹ in the 2016 U.S. presidential election,

一年前，赛辛斯自请回避俄罗斯干预2016年美国总统大选调查时，

he set in motion the chain of events that culminated¹⁰ in the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller.

就引发了一连串最终以罗伯特·米勒被任命为特别顾问达到高潮的事件。

Trump has never forgiven him.

在这件事情上，特朗普从未原谅过他。

In public and private, the President has denigrated¹¹ the proud former Senator, calling him an “idiot,” “beleaguered” and “disgraceful.”

无论是在公开场合还是私底下，总统都诋毁过这位自鸣得意的前参议员，说他“白痴”、“四面楚歌”、“可耻”。

The broken relationship has turned the job of a lifetime into an exercise in humiliation¹².

这段最终破裂的关系让这份千载难逢的工作成了一次羞辱。

Rumors¹³ that Sessions’ neck is on the chopping block are constant, and Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt has been angling to replace him.

有关赛申斯已经被送上断头台了的传言不断，而美国环境保护署署长斯科特·普鲁伊特一直在试图接替塞申斯。

As Sessions and I spoke¹⁴ on the plane, he was headed to Nashville to give a speech to a police chiefs’ convention,

塞申斯和我在飞机上谈话时，他正前往纳什维尔，出席一次警察局长会议，

followed by a stop in Lexington, Ky., to meet with prosecutors¹⁵, police and families affected¹⁶ by the opioid crisis.

之后还要在肯塔基州的列克星敦稍作停留，与一众检察官、警察和受阿片类药物危机影响的家庭会面。

All the while, Fox News played on mute above his head, its chyrons questioning whether Sessions was about to be fired.

谈话期间，《福克斯新闻》一直在他的头顶静音播放着，节目里的滚动新闻刚好问到了赛辛斯是否即将被解雇这一问题。

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 chuckle   

vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑

参考例句：

• He shook his head with a soft chuckle.他轻轻地笑着摇了摇头。
• I couldn't suppress a soft chuckle at the thought of it.想到这个，我忍不住轻轻地笑起来。

3 parable   

n.寓言，比喻

参考例句：

• This is an ancient parable.这是一个古老的寓言。
• The minister preached a sermon on the parable of the lost sheep.牧师讲道时用了亡羊的比喻。

4 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

5 endorse   

vt.(支票、汇票等)背书，背署；批注；同意

参考例句：

• No one is foolish enough to endorse it.没有哪个人会傻得赞成它。
• I fully endorse your opinions on this subject.我完全拥护你对此课题的主张。

6 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

7 asunder   

adj.分离的，化为碎片

参考例句：

• The curtains had been drawn asunder.窗帘被拉向两边。
• Your conscience,conviction,integrity,and loyalties were torn asunder.你的良心、信念、正直和忠诚都被扯得粉碎了。

8 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

9 meddling   

v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He denounced all "meddling" attempts to promote a negotiation. 他斥责了一切“干预”促成谈判的企图。 来自辞典例句
• They liked this field because it was never visited by meddling strangers. 她们喜欢这块田野，因为好事的陌生人从来不到那里去。 来自辞典例句

10 culminated   

v.达到极点( culminate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• a gun battle which culminated in the death of two police officers 一场造成两名警察死亡的枪战
• The gala culminated in a firework display. 晚会以大放烟火告终。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 denigrated   

v.诋毁，诽谤( denigrate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The critics have denigrated our efforts. 评论家贬低了我们的努力。 来自互联网
• For that whole group of citizens whose appeals for assistance have been similarly and irresponsibly denigrated. 为所有的申诉求助后，被同样不负责任的诋毁的公众。 来自互联网

12 humiliation   

n.羞辱

参考例句：

• He suffered the humiliation of being forced to ask for his cards.他蒙受了被迫要求辞职的羞辱。
• He will wish to revenge his humiliation in last Season's Final.他会为在上个季度的决赛中所受的耻辱而报复的。

13 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

15 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

16 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。