好英语网特朗普正把美国带往存亡边缘
Last fall Bob Kroll, the head of the Minneapolis police union, appeared at a Trump rally, where he thanked the president for ending Barack Obama’s “oppression of police” and letting cops “put the handcuffs on criminals instead of us.”
去年秋天，明尼阿波利斯警察工会主席鲍勃·克罗尔(Bob Kroll)出现在特朗普的集会上，感谢总统终结了贝拉克·奥巴马(Barack Obama)“对警察的压迫”，让警察“给罪犯戴上手铐，而不是给我们戴上手铐”。
The events of the past week, in which the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody led to demonstrations against police brutality, and these demonstrations were met by more police brutality — including unprecedented violence against the news media — have made it clear what Kroll meant by taking the handcuffs off. And Donald Trump, far from trying to calm the nation, is pouring gasoline on the fire; he seems very close to trying to incite a civil war.
乔治·弗洛伊德在被明尼阿波利斯警方控制的过程中死亡，引发了反对警察暴行的示威游行，而这些游行遭到了更多的警察暴行——包括对新闻媒体史无前例的暴力——过去一周的这些事件让人明白了克罗尔说的摘下警察的手铐是什么意思。而唐纳德·特朗普远没有安抚国民，而是火上浇油；他的所作所为似乎非常接近要煽动内战。
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that America as we know it is on the brink.
我觉得可以不夸张地说，我们所熟知的那个美国，正处存亡攸关的时刻。
周日白宫外的混乱场面。
How did we get here? The core story of U.S. politics over the past four decades is that wealthy elites weaponized white racism to gain political power, which they used to pursue policies that enriched the already wealthy at workers’ expense.
我们是怎么走到这一步的？过去40年来，美国政治的核心故事是，富人精英将白人种族主义变成武器，从而牟取政治权力，并且利用这种权力来推行他们的政策：以牺牲工人利益为代价，让已经富有的人更加富有。
Until Trump’s rise it was possible — barely — for people to deny this reality with a straight face. At this point, however, it requires willful blindness not to see what’s going on.
在特朗普崛起之前，人们还有可能勉强绷着脸否认这个现实。然而，到了今天，要想对发生的事情视而不见，除非是故意失明才行。
I still see occasional news reports that describe Trump as a “populist.” But Trump’s economic policies have been the opposite of populist: They have been relentlessly plutocratic, centered largely on a successful effort to ram through huge tax cuts for corporations and the rich, and a so far unsuccessful attempt to take health insurance away from poor and working-class families.
我仍然偶尔看到一些新闻报道，形容特朗普是“民粹主义者”。但特朗普的经济政策一直与民粹主义背道而驰：它们一直是无情的富豪政治，主要围绕着成功为企业和富人大幅减税，并试图将医疗保险从穷人和工薪阶层家庭手中夺走，后者目前尚未成功。
Nor have Trump’s trade wars brought back the good jobs of yore. Even before the coronavirus plunged us into depression, Trump had failed to deliver major employment growth in coal mining or manufacturing. And farmers, who supported Trump by large margins in 2016, have suffered huge losses thanks to his trade wars.
特朗普的贸易战也没有带回昔日的好工作。早在新冠病毒让美国陷入萧条之前，特朗普也未能在煤炭开采或制造业中实现重大就业增长。而在2016年大量支持特朗普的农民，也因为他的贸易战遭受了巨大损失。
So what has Trump really offered to the white working class that makes up most of his base? Basically, he has provided affirmation and cover for racial hostility.
那么，特朗普到底为占其票仓大部分的白人工人阶级提供了什么呢？基本上，他为种族敌意提供了赞许和掩护。
And nowhere is this clearer than in his relationship with the police.
这一点在他和警察的关系中体现得最为明显。
If economic self-interest were the only thing driving political orientation, you would expect police officers to favor Democrats. They are, after all, unionized public-sector employees — and Republicans are both anti-union and anti-government.
如果经济上的利己是政治倾向的唯一动力，你会认为警察应该倾向于民主党。毕竟，他们是加入了工会的公共部门雇员——而共和党人既反工会又反政府。
They don’t make enough money to benefit much from the Trump tax cut. Their jobs will be very much at risk if revenue-starved state and local governments are forced to make drastic spending cuts — and Trump’s allies in the Senate are blocking the aid that might avert such cuts.
他们的薪酬没有多到可以从特朗普的减税政策中获益。如果收入匮乏的州和地方政府被迫大幅削减开支，他们的工作将面临很大风险——而特朗普在参议院的盟友正在阻止可能避免这种削减的财政援助。
Indeed, political contributions by public-sector unions overwhelmingly favor Democrats. And while many firefighters voted for Trump in 2016, the largest firefighters’ union has endorsed Joe Biden.
事实上，公共部门工会的政治捐款绝大多数都是支持民主党人的。尽管2016年有许多消防员投票支持特朗普，但最大的消防员工会支持乔·拜登(Joe Biden)。
But many police officers and their unions remain staunch Trump supporters, and they have been pretty clear about why: They feel that Trump will back them even, or perhaps especially, if they engage in abusive behavior toward racial minorities.
但许多警察和他们的工会仍然是特朗普的坚定支持者，而且他们非常清楚为什么：他们觉得，如果他们对少数族裔做出粗暴行为，特朗普甚至会支持他们，或者说会特别支持他们。
Just to be clear, many and probably most police officers have behaved well over the past week. In fact, in some cities the police have shown solidarity with protesters, joining marches or taking a knee.
需要明确的是，过去一周，许多警察，或许是大多数警察都表现良好。事实上，在一些城市，警察加入游行或屈膝，对抗议者表示声援。
But Trump clearly sides with those who reject any notion that police officers — or any other authority figures — should be held accountable for abusive behavior. Remember, he’s used his authority to pardon members of the U.S. military who were accused or convicted by their own services of committing war crimes.
但特朗普显然支持那些拒绝承认警察或其他官方人士应为粗暴行为负责的人。要知道，他曾利用自己的权力，赦免那些被自己的部队指控或判处犯有战争罪的美国军人。
In a call with governors on Monday, he showed no sign of recognizing either that there might be some justification for widespread protests or that he should play some role in unifying the nation. Instead, he told the governors that all the violence was coming from the “radical left,” and he insisted that governors must get tougher: “You have to dominate or you’ll look like a bunch of jerks; you have to arrest and try people.”
在周一与州长们的通话中，没有任何迹象表明，他已认识到广泛抗议的合理性，以及他应该在团结全国方面发挥一些作用。相反，他告诉州长们，所有暴力都来自“激进的左派”，他坚持州长们必须更加强硬：“你们必须控制局面，否则你们看起来就像是一群蠢货；你们必须开始逮捕和审判。”
Trump — who retreated to an underground bunker when protesters began demonstrating in front of the White House — also told the governors that “most of you are weak.”
当抗议者开始在白宫前示威时，特朗普撤退到一个地下掩体。然而他对州长们说，“你们大多数人都很软弱。”
It was a terrifying performance.
这真是可怕的表现。
Republicans have, as I said, spent decades exploiting racial hostility to win elections despite a policy agenda that hurts workers. But Trump is now pushing that cynical strategy toward a kind of apotheosis.
正如我所说，共和党人几十年来一直不顾政策议程伤害工人，一味利用种族敌意赢得选举。但特朗普现在正把这种冷漠自私的策略推向巅峰。
On one side, he’s effectively inciting violence by his supporters. On the other, he’s very close to calling for a military response to social protest. And at this point, nobody expects any significant pushback from other Republicans.
一方面，他实际上是在煽动其支持者的暴力行为。另一方面，他非常接近于呼吁对社会抗议做出军事回应。在这一点上，没有人指望其他共和党人会做出什么强烈反对。
Now, I don’t think Trump will actually succeed in provoking a race war in the near future, even though he’s clearly itching for an excuse to use force. But the months ahead are still likely to be very, very ugly.
现在，我不认为特朗普真的会在不久的将来成功挑起一场种族战争，尽管他显然渴望找到使用武力的借口。但未来几个月的情况仍可能非常、非常糟糕。
After all, if Trump is encouraging violence and talking about military solutions to overwhelmingly peaceful protests, what will he and his supporters do if he looks likely to lose November’s election?
毕竟，如果特朗普鼓励暴力，并谈起使用军事手段来解决大部分和平的抗议活动，那么，如果他看起来可能会在11月的选举中失利，他和他的支持者会怎么做呢？