The federal government will remain open, thanks to the art of the retreat

多虧了讓步的藝術(shù)，聯(lián)邦政府可以繼續(xù)開門營業(yè)了。

“Deals are my art form,” President Donald Trump once wrote. “I like making deals, preferably big deals. That’s how I get my kicks.” They are also how he gets kicked. As The Economist went to press, Mr Trump appeared poised to sign a spending bill that averted another government shutdown, but at further cost to his reputation as an ace negotiator.

“交易就是我的藝術(shù)，”總統(tǒng)唐納德·特朗普曾經(jīng)寫道，“我喜歡做交易，特別是大交易。這就是我娛樂的方式。”這也恰恰是他被娛樂的方式。當(dāng)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人準(zhǔn)備出版的時候，特朗普似乎正在準(zhǔn)備簽一個避免政府又一次關(guān)門的支出方案，但更多地這對于他的聲譽(yù)上是一個談判的殺手锏。

Late last year Mr Trump initiated the longest government shutdown in recent history because Congress would not approve the $5.7bn requested for his border wall. After watching his approval ratings drop a few points, he agreed on January 25th to reopen the government for three weeks—without funding for his wall—to give a bipartisan group of lawmakers time to hammer out a compromise on border security spending. Both sides, being familiar with the president’s earlier writings, staked out maximalist positions.?

去年年底特朗普引起了近期最長的政府關(guān)門，因?yàn)閲鴷煌馔ㄟ^建造他的邊境墻所需的57億美元的預(yù)算?？吹阶约旱臐M意度又下降了幾點(diǎn)，特朗普在1月25日同意在不為邊境墻借款的情況下，重開政府三周，來給立法者兩黨對邊境安全支出做出折中解決方案的時間。兩黨在很熟悉總統(tǒng)之前方案的情況下，都擺出了多數(shù)派的姿態(tài)。

Mr Trump insisted on his $5.7bn. Democrats wanted to cap the number of beds available for undocumented immigrants arrested within the United States (as opposed to while crossing the border) at around 16,000 per day—well below both current levels and what the administration wanted. The number of beds matters because of a “bed mandate” that requires America’s immigration police to fill all the beds in immigration detention centres that have been paid for by Congress. The pool of people who are eligible for deportation from America under this administration is far greater than the number of people these places can warehouse, so the more beds there are, the more can be detained for deportation later.

特朗普仍然堅(jiān)持57億美元的方案。民主黨人想要將為美國境內(nèi)逮捕的非法移民保留的床位數(shù)量限制在每天大約16000張，既低于目前的水準(zhǔn)也低于政府預(yù)想的水準(zhǔn)。床位的數(shù)量比較重要因?yàn)槊绹泼窬煨枰顫M所有由國會付費(fèi)的拘留中心的床位。在這項(xiàng)政策下需要被驅(qū)逐出美國的人數(shù)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)多于這些中心可以容納的人數(shù)，所以如果有越多的床位，就有更多的人可以之后被驅(qū)逐出去。

?The agreement provides funding for more than twice as many beds as Democrats wanted. But it includes around $1.3bn for new physical fencing along the southern border—not just less than Mr Trump demanded, but less than then $1.6bn Democrats offered him just before the shutdown. Mr Trump initially grumbled that he was “not happy” about the deal. Sean Hannity, a Fox News personality who is among Mr Trump’s strongest backers, called it “a garbage compromise”, while Mark Meadows, who chairs the hard right House Freedom Caucus, said he could not imagine Mr Trump “applauding something so lacking.”

這份協(xié)定提供了比民主黨預(yù)想的多了兩倍的預(yù)算。但它包括對南部邊境新圍墻約13億美元的部分，不僅僅比特朗普要求的少，甚至比民主黨在關(guān)門之前給特朗普約定的16億還要少。特朗普開始抱怨他對于這個協(xié)定“不滿意”。Sean Hannity ,作為特朗普在?？怂剐侣?/b>中最強(qiáng)大的支持者，將這份協(xié)議稱為“垃圾承諾”，然而Mark? Meadows， 最強(qiáng)硬的右翼自由黨團(tuán)中的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者，說他不能想象特朗普會贊成如此缺心眼的事情。

A few days later the spin had changed. Laura Ingraham, a Hannity-ish pundit, spun the modest amount of wall funding as a victory, because Nancy Pelosi, the House majority leader had initially said she would not give Mr Trump a single dollar for his wall. Mr Trump tweeted that the funding provided by Congress “will be hooked up with lots of money from other sources …Will be getting almost $23 billion…Regardless of Wall money, it is being built as we speak!” What those other sources might be, or where the figure of $23bn comes from, is a mystery.

幾天后形勢變了。Laura Ingraham, Hannity的評論員,將這小額的邊境墻資金承諾視為一場勝利，因?yàn)榘讓m多數(shù)黨的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)Nancy Pelosi曾經(jīng)說她不會給特朗普一分錢用來建墻。特朗普發(fā)推特說“國會提供的資金會與從其他途徑得到的資金放在一起......將會有大約239億美金.....無論有沒有錢，我們現(xiàn)在說話的時候墻就已經(jīng)正在建設(shè)當(dāng)中！” 其他來源或者230億數(shù)字的來源是哪里，這仍是個謎團(tuán)。

The president could yet declare a national emergency at the border and direct Pentagon funds to wall-building. But the White House would almost certainly be sued, and anyway many conservatives quail at the prospect. After all, what would stop a future Democratic president from doing the same thing and filling Texas with solar panels? And if the wall is, according to Mr Trump, already being built, then why declare an emergency? Still, if the deal allows Mr Trump to claim victory, while continuing to thump Democrats on immigration, that may be optimal for him.

然而總統(tǒng)還可以宣布全國緊急狀態(tài)，并將五角大樓的錢用到建墻上。但這樣做的話白宮肯定會被起訴，很多保守黨都對這個預(yù)想感到害怕。畢竟，還有什么能阻止一個未來的民主黨總統(tǒng)做同樣的事情，將德克薩斯鋪滿太陽板呢？并且如果像特朗普說的墻已經(jīng)建成，那么為什么要宣布全國緊急狀態(tài)？如果特朗普能夠在這個交易中獲得勝利，繼續(xù)打擊民主黨的移民問題，那這可能對特朗普是最好的選擇了。

TIPS:斜體是我翻譯的覺得有問題的地方，?粗體是生詞，歡迎大家指正！