2023年经济学人 特朗普能否绝地翻盘（2）（在线收听）

    But this indictment is transforming Mr Trump from Ahab back into the great white whale.

    但这一指控正在将特朗普从“贪得无厌之徒”变回“大白鲸”。

    With all eyes once more upon him, he is again bearing down on America’s democracy.

    所有的目光都再次聚焦在他身上，他再次向美国的民主施加压力。

    Mr Bragg has returned Mr Trump’s litany of grievance to the present tense and him to his favourite role, as the target of obsessed leftists.

    布拉格让特朗普的一连串不满回到了现在时，让他变回了最喜欢的角色——左翼分子痴迷的目标。

    “They are not coming after me,” Mr Trump likes to tell his crowds.

    “他们不是冲着我来的，”特朗普喜欢对他的支持者说。

    “They are coming after you, and I am just standing in their way.”

    “他们在追着你们不放，而我正挡着他们的路。”

    After the indictment, he delivered a particularly vicious speech at his Florida club.

    在被起诉后，他在佛罗里达的俱乐部发表了一篇特别恶毒的演讲。

    “The only crime that I have committed”, he said, “is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it.”

    “我唯一犯过的罪，”他说，“就是无畏地捍卫我们的国家，不让那些企图摧毁它的人得逞。”

    Mr Trump has denied the charges and any affairs, but he has admitted paying hush money to protect his reputation, without regard for any campaign.

    特朗普否认了这些指控和婚外情，但他承认支付了封口费来保护自己的声誉，而没考虑到竞选。

    Past sex scandals involving President Bill Clinton and Senator John Edwards suggest voters and juries have a high tolerance for political chicanery to conceal intimate matters.

    美国前总统比尔·克林顿和参议员约翰·爱德华兹过去的性丑闻表明，选民和陪审团对通过政治手段掩盖私生活的行为有着很高的容忍度。

    Maybe Mr Bragg will persuade a jury in the end.

    也许布拉格先生最终会说服陪审团。

    But with Mr Trump not due back in court in this case until December, even Republicans who are determined to stop him are accusing the prosecutor, a Democrat, of playing politics.

    但由于特朗普要到12月才会回到这起案件的法庭上，就连决心阻止他的共和党人也指责这位检察官——民主党人——在玩政治。

    Senator Mitt Romney of Utah said Mr Bragg had set “a dangerous precedent for criminalising political opponents”.

    犹他州参议员米特·罗姆尼表示，布拉格为了“将政治对手定罪树立了一个危险的先例”。

    Mr Trump has surged in recent polls, and he claims to have hauled in millions of dollars in donations with his pleas for support against the prosecution in Manhattan.

    特朗普在最近的民调中支持率飙升，他声称，通过请求支持曼哈顿的起诉，他筹集了数百万美元的捐款。

    In the clearest index of broader Republican sentiment, Mr Trump’s opponents for the nomination have felt it necessary to fall in behind him.

    特朗普的提名对手感到有必要让他先行，这是反映共和党整体情绪最明确的指标。

    (One noble exception is Asa Hutchinson, a former governor of Arkansas, who said Mr Trump should withdraw out of respect for the justice system and the presidency.)(阿肯色州前州长阿萨·哈金森是一个高尚的例外，他说，出于对司法体系和总统职位的尊重，特朗普应该退出。)In mid-March Mr DeSantis mocked Mr Trump for “paying hush money to a porn star”.

    3月中旬，德桑蒂斯嘲笑特朗普“向色情明星支付封口费”。

    But he soon joined the chorus, pandering with an empty vow not to “assist in an extradition request”.

    但他很快也加入了这一行列，空洞地发誓不会“协助引渡请求”。

    The White House apparently regards this as good news.

    白宫显然认为这是一个好消息。

    Joe Biden, who is all but certain to run for re-election, is said to believe Mr Trump is the easiest Republican to beat.

    拜登几乎肯定会竞选连任，据说他认为特朗普是最容易击败的共和党人。

    Other, more threatening indictments are probably headed Mr Trump’s way, over his attempts to overturn the election and to make off with classified documents.

    其他更具威胁性的指控可能正朝着特朗普的方向发展，指控他试图推翻选举结果，并窃取机密文件。

    The publication Politico reported on April 4th that Mr Biden’s advisers believe the swing voters who deserted Mr Trump in 2020 will not return to him, given all the furore he creates.

    《政治人》杂志4月4日报道称，拜登的顾问认为，鉴于特朗普引发的所有轰动，2020年抛弃特朗普的摇摆选民不会回到他身边。

    What dangerous assumptions.

    多么危险的假设啊。

    Mr Trump may have lost the 2020 election by 7m votes, but he was just over 40,000 votes away from tying Mr Biden in the electoral college.

    特朗普可能以700万张选票之差输掉2020年的大选，但他只差4万多张选票就能在总统选举团中追平拜登。

    In a general-election campaign, Mr Trump can count on polarisation to rally doubting Republicans behind him, and Mr Biden’s approval ratings remain low by historic standards.

    在大选竞选中，特朗普可以依靠两极分化来团结持怀疑态度的共和党人，而拜登的支持率仍处于历史低位。

    Who knows what may happen with his health or the economy.

    谁知道他的身体或经济会有什么突发情况。

    The indictment in New York may help Mr Trump demean any other legal action against him.

    纽约的起诉可能有助于特朗普贬低针对他的其他任何法律行动。

    It could be hoped, once, that the challenge to decency posed by Mr Trump would bring out the best in America.

    人们曾经希望，特朗普对体面的挑战会激发出美国最好的一面。

    Instead, Mr Trump has made zealots and quislings out of Republicans while inflaming and dumbing down Democrats and polarising, which is to say corrupting, the news media.

    相反，特朗普把共和党人变成了狂热分子和卖国贼，同时激怒贬低民主党人，并使新闻媒体两极分化，也就是腐败。

    He promises to make America great but he keeps making it worse, and he is far from done.

    他承诺要让美国变得伟大，但他一直在让它变得更糟，并且还远没有结束。