好英语网佩洛西丈夫在家中遇袭加剧对美国政治暴力的担忧
WASHINGTON — Members of Congress have watched warily in recent years as threats and harassment against them have crescendoed, privately worrying that the brutal language and deranged misinformation creeping into political discourse would lead to actual violence.
华盛顿——近年来，针对国会议员的威胁和骚扰愈演愈烈，他们一直警惕观察，私下担心政治话语中出现的野蛮言论和疯狂的虚假信息会演变为实质的暴力。
The assault of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, inside their San Francisco home early Friday morning by an intruder who shouted “Where is Nancy?” and bludgeoned him with a hammer before being taken into custody by police seemed to confirm their worst fears, vividly bringing to life the acute danger facing elected officials amid a rise in violent political speech.
上周五清晨，南希·佩洛西议长的丈夫保罗在旧金山的家中遭受的袭击似乎证实了他们最糟糕的担忧。一名入侵者大喊“南希在哪里？”，并用锤子殴打他，后来被警察拘留。这一事件生动地展现了在暴力政治言论增加的情况下民选官员面临的严重危险。
去年，路易斯安那州共和党众议员史蒂夫·斯卡利斯在国会大厦的台阶上讲话时，安保人员在一旁警戒。斯卡利斯在2017年被一名对共和党怀恨在心的男子开枪击中。
It revealed the vulnerabilities in security around members of Congress and their families — even for a lawmaker as powerful and wealthy as Ms. Pelosi, who is second in line to the presidency and has her own security detail — as midterm congressional campaigns reach their frenzied final push.
在国会中期选举竞选活动进入激烈的决战冲刺之际，这一事件揭示了国会议员及其家人面临的安全隐忧，即使是对佩洛西这样掌握权力与财富的立法者而言——她是总统职位的第二顺位继承人并拥有自己的安保人员。
And it highlighted how Ms. Pelosi, the first female speaker of the House of Representatives and a longtime fixture of Democratic politics, has been increasingly demonized by Republicans. For the better part of two decades, she has starred in G.O.P. attack advertisements and fund-raising appeals that portray her as a partisan villain, and more recently has figured prominently in right-wing conspiracy theories about Democratic misdeeds, including QAnon.
这一事件凸显出佩洛西这位众议院首位女议长、民主党政界常青树如何被共和党人日益妖魔化。在过去二十年的相当一部分时间里，她的形象出现在共和党的攻击广告和筹款呼吁中，被描绘成恶贯满盈的党棍，并且最近在包括匿名者Q在内的关于民主党不端行为的极右翼阴谋论中，佩洛西扮演了显著角色。
She was a prime target of the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — who hunted for her, calling, “Nancy, Nancy, where are you, Nancy?” — and has been a top recipient of an unprecedented stream of violent threats from far-right extremists who have come to view her as the face of the Democratic Party.
她是2021年1月6日袭击国会大厦的暴徒的主要目标——他们搜寻她，大喊：“南希，南希，你在哪里，南希？”并且她一直是极右翼极端分子前所未有的一系列暴力威胁的主要对象，他们将她视为民主党的代言人。
Nearly two years after supporters of former President Donald J. Trump invaded the Capitol on Jan. 6, inspired by his lies of a stolen election, sending members of Congress and the vice president fleeing for their lives, the toxic stew of violent language, conspiracy theory and misinformation that thrives in digital spaces continues to pose a grave threat.
两年前的1月6日，前总统特朗普的支持者受到他关于选举被偷窃的谎言的鼓舞，这促使他们侵入国会大厦，国会议员和副总统匆忙逃离，而今数字空间混合暴力语言、阴谋论和虚假信息的不良信息仍然在构成严重威胁。
“When we see things like what happened last night at the speaker’s home; when we see things like plots to kidnap governors; when we see overt acts ramping up; we see, frankly, a whole host of indicators suggesting that we’re really at a crisis point,” said Peter Simi, an associate professor at Chapman University who has studied extremist groups and violence for more than 20 years.
“当我们看到昨晚在议长家中发生的事情时；当我们看到诸如绑架州长的阴谋之类的事情时；当我们看到公开行为增加时；坦率地说，我们看到大量指标表明我们确实处于危机点，”研究极端主义团体和暴力20多年的查普曼大学副教授彼得·西米说。
Representative Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, who is among the most threatened members of the House, said the attack on Friday was a “realization” for her and her husband.
众议院受威胁最严重的议员之一、明尼苏达州民主党众议员伊尔汗·奥马尔表示，周五的袭击事件对她和她丈夫来说，是一直以来的担忧“成真”了。
“We used to theoretically talk about what would happen if they found our children when they came to look for us; what would happen if they found our loved ones when they came to look for us,” Ms. Omar said on MSNBC. “Now we know.”
“我们过去常常做这样的假设讨论，如果他们来找我们时发现我们的孩子，会发生什么；如果他们来找我们时发现了我们的亲人，会发生什么，”奥马尔在MSNBC上说。“现在我们知道了。”
While threats have proliferated from every corner of the political spectrum, the Department of Homeland Security has warned that the United States faces growing danger from “violent domestic extremists” emboldened by the Jan. 6 attack, and motivated by anger over “the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives” — a reference to Mr. Trump’s claims that have been echoed by Republicans and right-wing activists.
尽管政治光谱的各个角落都曾散发出威胁，但国土安全部警告说，美国面临来自“国内暴力极端分子”的危险日益增加，这些极端分子因1月6日的袭击而胆大妄为，驱动他们的是对“总统过渡”的愤怒、以及“其他由虚假叙述引发的不满情绪”，虚假叙述指的是特朗普的主张，这些主张得到了共和党人和右翼活动人士的赞同。
The impact of conspiracy-laden forums that helped fuel the Jan. 6 riot can be seen at congressional town halls across the country, where Republican lawmakers often field questions based on disinformation from angry constituents convinced that they are facing not just political opponents with whom they disagree, but evil actors who must be destroyed.
充斥阴谋论的论坛促发了1月6日的骚乱，在全国各地的国会市政厅都能看到这些论坛造成的影响，共和党立法者经常根据愤怒选民的虚假信息提出问题，后者确信他们面临的并非只是政见不一的对手，而是必须摧毁的邪恶行为者。
“As we wait to hear more, every single American needs to be lowering the temperature,” Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, said in a statement on Friday. “This is increasingly obvious: Disturbed individuals easily succumb to conspiracy theories and rage — the consequences are bloody and un-American.”
“在进一步了解情况的同时，每个美国人都需要冷静下来，”内布拉斯加州共和党参议员本·萨斯周五在一份声明中说。“有一点越来越明显：感到不安的人很容易屈服于阴谋论和愤怒——后果是血腥的和非美国的。”
Political violence is hardly a new phenomenon. Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, then the third-ranking Republican, was shot and gravely wounded in 2017 at a congressional baseball practice in a suburb of Washington, D.C., by a man with a grudge against Republicans; Mr. Scalise has said the presence of his security detail saved his life.
政治暴力并不是一个新现象。路易斯安那州众议员史蒂夫·斯卡利斯，当时排名第三的共和党人，于2017年在华盛顿特区郊区的一次国会棒球练习中被一名对共和党怀恨在心的男子开枪击中，身负重伤；斯卡利斯曾经说过，能保住性命全因当时有安保人员在场。
But since the attack on the Capitol, members of Congress have reported feeling increasingly vulnerable both in Washington and at home in their districts. The number of recorded threats against members of Congress increased more than tenfold in the five years after Mr. Trump was elected in 2016, according to figures from the Capitol Police, the federal law enforcement department that protects Congress, with more than 9,625 threats reported in 2021.
但自从国会大厦遭到袭击以来，国会议员报告称，无论是在华盛顿还是他们在选区的家中，他们都面临越来越多的威胁。根据保护国会的联邦执法部门国会警察局的数据，在特朗普2016年赢得大选后的五年中，对国会议员的记录威胁数量增加了十倍以上，在2021年超过9625起。
Many of those threats have come from people with mental illness who are not believed to pose an immediate danger, a spokesman from the Capitol Police said, and even fewer of those threats result in an arrest or indictment.
国会警察发言人说，其中许多威胁来自心理疾病患者，他们被认为不会立即构成危险，而导致逮捕或起诉的威胁更少。
But lawmakers have reported an increase in jarring confrontations that have sent them dipping into their campaign accounts to bulk up their security and minimizing their public footprint.
但立法者报告称，尖锐的对抗有所增加，这让他们动用了他们的竞选账户资金以加强他们的安全，并最大限度地减少公开露面。
A man who had sent an angry email to Representative Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington State, for example, repeatedly showed up outside her house, armed with a semiautomatic handgun and shouting threats and profanities. An unknown visitor came to the house of Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, and smashed a storm window.
例如，一名男子曾向华盛顿州民主党众议员普拉米拉·贾亚帕尔发送了一封愤怒的电子邮件，他多次出现在她家门外，手持半自动手枪，并大声威胁和说脏话。一名不速之客来到缅因州共和党参议员苏珊·柯林斯的家中，砸碎了防风窗。
“I wouldn’t be surprised if a senator or House member were killed,” Ms. Collins said in an interview earlier this year. “What started with abusive phone calls is now translating into active threats of violence and real violence.”
“如果一名参议员或众议院议员被杀，我不会感到惊讶，”柯林斯在今年早些时候的一次采访中说。“最初是电话暴力，现在正在转化为积极行动的暴力威胁和实质暴力。”
In a review by The New York Times earlier this year of more than 75 indictments of people charged with threatening lawmakers since 2016, more than a third of the cases involved Republican or pro-Trump individuals threatening Democrats or Republicans they found insufficiently loyal to the former president.
《纽约时报》今年早些时候审阅了超过75份自2016年以来被指控威胁立法者的起诉书，其中超过三分之一的案件涉及共和党或亲特朗普的个人威胁民主党人，或他们认为对前总统不够忠诚的共和党人。
Nearly a quarter of the cases were Democrats threatening Republicans, many of them threats driven by anger over lawmakers’ support for Mr. Trump and his policies, including Republican attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and one of his Supreme Court nominees, Brett M. Kavanaugh.
近四分之一的案件是民主党人威胁共和党人，其中许多威胁是出于对立法者支持特朗普及其政策的愤怒，包括共和党人试图废除平价医疗法案，以及针对他的最高法院提名人之一布雷特·M·卡瓦诺。
More than one in 10 of those cases featured threats against Ms. Pelosi, underscoring how she has been a prominent target for politically inspired violence.
在这些案件中，有超过十分之一的案件以威胁佩洛西为主，这凸显她已经成为受政治启发的暴力的主要目标。
The rest were difficult to categorize, considering the often disjointed and conspiracy-minded rationales given by people who resort to political violence against elected officials.
其余案件很难归类，因为那些对民选官员诉诸政治暴力的人给出的理由往往前言不搭后语，或者受阴谋论的驱使。
Authorities investigating the attack on Mr. Pelosi were looking into whether the suspect was responsible for blog posts by someone using the same name who had expressed antisemitic and other hateful views, including concerns about pedophilia, anti-white racism and “elite” control of the internet, Brooke Jenkins, the San Francisco district attorney, said.
旧金山地区检察官布鲁克·詹金斯表示，调查佩洛西遇袭事件的有关部门正在核查一些使用嫌疑人姓名发表的博客文章，以明确是否为同一人，这些文章表达了反犹太主义和其他仇恨观点，包括对恋童癖、反白人种族主义和“精英”控制互联网的担忧。
Even rhetoric not followed by action can be frightening. In 2018, a Florida man called the office of Representative Brian Mast, Republican of Florida, nearly 500 times and threatened to kill his children over the congressman’s support for Mr. Trump’s family separation policy at the southern border.
即使是没有付诸行动的言辞也会令人恐惧。2018年，一名佛罗里达州男子给佛罗里达州共和党众议员布莱恩·马斯特的办公室打了近500次电话，威胁要杀死他的孩子，原因是这位众议员支持特朗普在南部边境的家庭分离政策。
J. Thomas Manger, the Capitol Police chief, testified to lawmakers earlier this year that the threats had overwhelmed his department. Each threat forwarded to Capitol Police is assessed for the potential for targeted violence and the immediate risk to the victim, and in some cases, they work in tandem with the F.B.I. to investigate.
今年早些时候，国会警察局长J·托马斯·曼格向议员们作证说，这些威胁让他的部门不堪重负。递交给国会警察的每一份威胁都会进行评估，确定有针对性暴力的可能性，以及对受害者的直接风险，在某些情况下，他们会与联邦调查局合作进行调查。
“We’re barely keeping our head above water for those investigations,” Mr. Manger said. “We’re going to have to nearly double the number of agents who work those threat cases.”
“对于这些调查，我们只能勉强应付，”曼格说。“今后我们不得不将处理这些威胁案件的特工人数增加近一倍。”
A police spokesman later said the department had since met that goal. It has also opened two field offices in Florida and California, which have the most threats against members of Congress, and has hired an intelligence director tasked with improving data collection and sharing.
一名警方发言人后来表示，该部门已经达到了这一目标。局方还在佛罗里达州和加利福尼亚州开设了两个办事处，这两个地方对国会议员的威胁最大，此外还聘请了一名情报主管，负责改进数据的收集和共享。
The attack on Mr. Pelosi will likely prompt new discussions among lawmakers about how to protect themselves and their families, especially those facing competitive re-election races who will be expected to heavily campaign in the last two weeks before the midterms. Many lawmakers had sought to reduce their physical footprint in their communities even before the assault by pivoting from in-person town halls to telephone events.
对佩洛西的攻击可能会促使议员们就如何保护自己和家人展开新的讨论，尤其是那些面临激烈连任竞选的议员，他们预计将在中期选举前的最后两周大力拉票。甚至在袭击发生之前，许多议员就已经试图减少自己在社区的活动足迹，从亲自出席市政厅活动转向电话活动。
Members of Congress are allowed to use campaign funds to pay for home security systems and details, and they have spent a total of more than $6 million since the start of last year, according to an analysis by The Times of campaign finance and congressional data.
国会议员被允许使用竞选资金来支付家庭安全系统和安保方面的费用，根据时报对竞选资金和国会数据的分析，自去年年初以来，他们总共在该项目花费了600多万美元。
Mr. Manger sent a memo on Saturday to lawmakers and staff outlining the resources available to them through his agency, including an evaluation of home security and the option to request more frequent patrols in their neighborhoods in Washington and in their districts.
周六，曼格向议员和工作人员发送了一份备忘录，概述了他们可以通过他的机构获得的资源，包括对家庭安全的评估，并可以要求在华盛顿及其选区的社区更频繁地巡逻。
The attack on Mr. Pelosi, he said, “is a somber reminder of the threats elected officials and families face in 2022.”
他说，对佩洛西的攻击“是对当选官员及其家庭在2022年面临的威胁的一次警示”。