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NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON, DC
紐約和華盛頓特區(qū)
Setbacks for Donald Trump in Congress and the courts suggest that America’s checks and balances are working. But there is still plenty to worry about.
唐納德·特朗普在國(guó)會(huì)和法院的受挫表明，美國(guó)的分權(quán)制衡機(jī)制正在發(fā)揮作用。 但還有太多事需要費(fèi)心勞神。
THE morning after Donald Trump was elected president, Eric Schneiderman, the Democratic attorney-general of New York, summoned his raddled senior lawyers to a war council. Seated in his unfussy 25th-floor office in lower Manhattan, Mr Schneiderman told them to assume Mr Trump’s brutish campaign pledges were in earnest, and to clear their desks for action.
唐納德·特朗普當(dāng)選總統(tǒng)后的那個(gè)早晨，紐約民主黨總檢察長(zhǎng)埃里克·施奈德曼（Eric Sc??hneiderman）集合他筋疲力盡的高級(jí)律師們召開(kāi)了一次作戰(zhàn)會(huì)議。 施奈德曼坐在位于曼哈頓下城第二十五層不太講究的辦公室里，告訴他們特朗普看似不講道理的競(jìng)選承諾可能是認(rèn)真的，為此要求他們清理干凈辦公桌，準(zhǔn)備迎接戰(zhàn)斗。
While the president-elect was digesting his victory in Trump Tower, five miles up the road, Mr Schneiderman put scores of the 650 lawyers at his disposal on Trump watch. They started trawling through his campaign statements and preparing legal defences against the assaults he had promised on immigration, consumer protection and climate-change policy. With the Republicans who control Congress apparently unwilling to hold Mr Trump to account, Mr Schneiderman feared that Democratic attorneys-general might have to act as a thin blue line of resistance to an authoritarian president.
候任總統(tǒng)還在特朗普大廈品味勝利喜悅之時(shí)，距此五英里的地方，施奈德曼已經(jīng)將他治下650名律師中的一部分轉(zhuǎn)而關(guān)注特朗普。他們開(kāi)始收羅其競(jìng)選聲明；為他承諾選民的攻擊做好司法辯護(hù)的準(zhǔn)備，這包括移民問(wèn)題，消費(fèi)者保護(hù)和氣候變化政策等?？刂浦鴩?guó)會(huì)的共和黨顯然不愿意向特朗普問(wèn)責(zé)，因而施奈德曼擔(dān)心，民主黨總檢察長(zhǎng)可能不得不承擔(dān)起細(xì)藍(lán)線的職能以對(duì)抗這個(gè)獨(dú)裁主義總統(tǒng)。（細(xì)藍(lán)線用以區(qū)分民主社會(huì)和集權(quán)社會(huì)）
Mr Schneiderman, a small man who speaks fast and wastes few words, already understood Mr Trump’s capacity for rule breaking. In 2013 he sued Mr Trump over the fleecing of students at Trump University,a bogus training scheme for would-be property moguls. In response, the tycoon alleged malicious prosecution and sued him for millions of dollars. In 2014 the New York Observer, a newspaper owned by Mr Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, ran a lengthy hatchet job on him.“I did not realise it at the time,” he says,“but I was getting a preview of the scorched earth approach he takes to opposition.”
施奈德曼是一個(gè)語(yǔ)速很快，沒(méi)有廢話的小個(gè)子。他對(duì)特朗普破壞規(guī)則的能力已然心知肚明。2013年，他就特朗普大學(xué)欺詐學(xué)生一案對(duì)特朗普提出起訴。特朗普大學(xué)是給那些想要成為房產(chǎn)大亨的人提供的一項(xiàng)虛構(gòu)的訓(xùn)練計(jì)劃。作為回?fù)?，特朗普宣稱這是惡意誣告，并起訴了他，要求賠償數(shù)百萬(wàn)美元。2014年，紐約觀察家報(bào)（特朗普的女婿和顧問(wèn)賈德·庫(kù)斯納（Jared Kushner）擁有的一份報(bào)紙），對(duì)他進(jìn)行了長(zhǎng)期惡意攻擊?！拔耶?dāng)時(shí)并沒(méi)有意識(shí)到，”他說(shuō) “這是特朗普針對(duì)反對(duì)者焦土方式的預(yù)演?！?br>
Ten weeks into his term, Mr Trump is behaving much as Mr Schneiderman predicted. Among other affronts, he has tried to discredit the electoral process by making false claims about illegal voting and has peddled false allegations that Britain spied on him. He has failed to disengage convincingly from his business interests, or reveal the extent of them. He has signed cruel and amateurish immigration rules and, when they faced legal challenge, argued that his border policy was no business of the courts. According to the fact-checkers at the Washington Post, Mr Trump uttered 317“false or misleading” statements in his first 63 days as president. “It’s been clear since he took office”, says Mr Schneiderman,who joined the attack on the immigration rules, “that this president has less regard for the rule of law and precedent and traditions than anyone in recent memory.”
特朗普在任十周，其表現(xiàn)和施奈德曼預(yù)測(cè)得大同小異。除此之外，他試圖對(duì)非法投票提出虛假聲明來(lái)詆毀選舉流程；散布英國(guó)對(duì)他采取間諜行動(dòng)的虛假指控。他即沒(méi)有令人信服地和商業(yè)利益劃清界限，也沒(méi)有透露所涉商業(yè)利益的程度。他簽署了嚴(yán)苛而不成熟的移民行政命令，當(dāng)這些命令面臨法律質(zhì)疑時(shí)，他辯稱邊界政策和法庭管轄無(wú)關(guān)。根據(jù)“華盛頓郵報(bào)”的事實(shí)核查，特朗普上任后的前63天發(fā)表了317份含有“虛假或誤導(dǎo)”的聲明。施奈德曼也參與了針對(duì)移民行政命令的攻擊行動(dòng)。他說(shuō)，“特朗普上任以來(lái)，很明顯這位總統(tǒng)對(duì)法治，先例和傳統(tǒng)的尊重，比記憶中的任何其他總統(tǒng)都要少?！?/p>
美國(guó)期刊編輯部門的流程中有一項(xiàng)重要工作-“事實(shí)核查”，并設(shè)置專門的職位“事實(shí)核查員（Fact Checkers）”。美國(guó)《時(shí)代》周刊有27人負(fù)責(zé)事實(shí)核查工作，他們不僅要核實(shí)某個(gè)報(bào)道是否客觀真實(shí)，還得在更高層次上證明報(bào)道是否符合真理?！洞笪餮笤驴酚?個(gè)全職“事實(shí)核查員”。
Yet although Mr Schneiderman’s estimation of the threat Mr Trump poses appears well judged, his sense of America’s vulnerability now looks pessimistic. The failure of the Republicans in the House of Representatives on March 24th to pass a health-care bill on which Mr Trump had staked his image as America’s closer-in chief shows that the president cannot carry all before him. A vigorous repulse to his excesses from journalists, NGOs, companies and millions of protesters, as well as the states, has proved additionally inconvenient. America’s constitutional checks and balances appear to be holding up better than many feared.
雖然施奈德曼對(duì)特朗普帶來(lái)的威脅判斷準(zhǔn)確，但他對(duì)美國(guó)脆弱性的感覺(jué)現(xiàn)在看來(lái)過(guò)于悲觀了。3月24日，眾議院共和黨未能通過(guò)醫(yī)改法案。為此特朗普把他首席終結(jié)者的形象都賭上了。這意味著即使身為總統(tǒng)也不能為所欲為。新聞?dòng)浾?，非政府組織，公司，數(shù)百萬(wàn)示威者以及各個(gè)州對(duì)于特朗普過(guò)分行為的強(qiáng)力反擊給他帶來(lái)了額外的麻煩。美國(guó)憲法制衡機(jī)制的表現(xiàn)似乎比許多人擔(dān)心的要好。
The defeat of the American Health Care Act (AHCA), it must be admitted, was hardly a textbook illustration of James Madison’s constitutional ideal that presidential ambition be frustrated by the powers of Congress. The bill’s aspiration, to begin the process of repealing Barack Obama’s health-care reform, known as Obamacare,is widely shared among Republicans. Under Mr Obama,House Republicans futilely voted to repeal Obamacare more than 50 times. Getting rid of it was one of Mr Trump’s main campaign pledges. The 30-odd right-wingers, known as the House Freedom Caucus, who opposed the repeal bill, causing Paul Ryan, the Republican Speaker of the House, to withdraw it, intended no rebuke to Mr Trump. Many caucus members admire him. Their target was Mr Ryan, whose pragmatism they abhor:they felt his bill, which they derided as“Obamacare-lite”, would not sufficiently reduce federal subsidies which help the poor buy health insurance.
必須承認(rèn)美國(guó)醫(yī)療保健法案（AHCA）的失敗不是詹姆斯·麥迪遜憲法理想的教科書中提到的案例-總統(tǒng)的野心被國(guó)會(huì)的權(quán)力挫敗。這個(gè)法案志在開(kāi)啟廢除被稱為奧巴馬醫(yī)改方案的進(jìn)程。這在共和黨中擁有廣泛的共識(shí)。在奧巴馬總統(tǒng)時(shí)期，眾議院共和黨曾投票廢除奧巴馬醫(yī)改方案達(dá)50多次，但最終無(wú)功而返。廢除它是特朗普主要的競(jìng)選承諾之一。眾議院自由黨團(tuán)的三十多位右翼人士提出反對(duì)，從而導(dǎo)致共和黨眾議院議長(zhǎng)保羅·瑞恩撤回了該法案。他們并非有意為難特朗普總統(tǒng)。許多黨團(tuán)成員對(duì)他還頗為欣賞。目標(biāo)是雷恩議長(zhǎng)，他們厭惡他的實(shí)用主義并揶揄這個(gè)法案是“類奧巴馬式的”（Obamacare-lite）。大家認(rèn)為該法案不會(huì)減少用于幫助窮人購(gòu)買健康保險(xiǎn)的聯(lián)邦補(bǔ)貼。
TheAmerican Health Care Act of 2017(H.R. 1628), referred to by the acronymAHCAand nicknamed variouslyTrumpcare,[1]Ryancare,[2]Obamacare-Lite,[3]andRepublicare,[4]was aUnited States Congressbillto repeal thePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act(ACA). It was based on a plan first publicly released byHouse Republicanson March 6, 2017, and the first part of what its proponents claim was a 3-phase plan to repeal the act. The AHCA would have repealed the parts of the Affordable Care Act within the scope of the federal budget, including provisions contained within the Internal Revenue Code such as the individual and employer mandates and various taxes, and also modifications to the federal Medicaid program.
The bill was withdrawn on March24, 2017, after it failed to gain sufficient House Republican support to pass it.
Regardless of their target, they dealt a blow to Mr Trump. He has promised to end the legislative dysfunction in Washington,DC, with his dealmaking skills. In the case of the AHCA, these consisted in threatening to launch primary challenges against his fellow Republicans unless they passed a bill which he appeared not to understand very well (“Mark Meadows, I’m coming after you,” he told the caucus’s North Carolinian leader, maybe jokingly). Perhaps he will recover some of his lost face, as Bill Clinton did after suffering his own healthcare reform foul-up early in his presidency.But Mr Trump will have to acquire better negotiating skills. He could also do with lifting his approval ratings; according to polling by Gallup, only 35% of Americans think he is doing a good job, which is unlikely to strike fear into Mr Meadows.
不管目標(biāo)是誰(shuí)，他們還是給了特朗普總統(tǒng)一擊。他承諾在華盛頓使用他交易的藝術(shù)結(jié)束立法的功能障礙。就美國(guó)醫(yī)療保健法案而言，這包括威脅發(fā)起對(duì)共和黨同僚的主要挑戰(zhàn)，除非他們通過(guò)這個(gè)他似乎也不太了解的法案（“馬克·密多斯，我要追你到天涯海角”，他告訴黨團(tuán)的北卡領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人，也許只是開(kāi)玩笑）。也許他會(huì)找回一些面子，如同比爾·克林頓總統(tǒng)執(zhí)政早期遭受的醫(yī)療改革混亂后所做的一樣。但特朗普先生必須學(xué)到更好的談判技巧。他也可以切實(shí)提高他的提案通過(guò)率; 根據(jù)蓋洛普的民意調(diào)查，只有35％的美國(guó)人認(rèn)為他干得不錯(cuò)，這不太可能讓密多斯感到害怕。
