紐時賞析／期中選舉前 拜登不再妥協火力全開

Newly Aggressive Biden Shifts From Compromise to Combat

期中選舉前 拜登不再妥協火力全開

President Joe Biden likes to say there is nothing America cannot do if the country is united and its rival parties are willing to work together.

美國總統拜登喜歡說，只要美國團結一致，敵對的政黨願意合作，美國就沒有做不成的事。

But with just two months until the midterm elections, Biden is purposely spending less time hailing the virtues of compromise and more time calling out dangers to democracy — using some of the sharpest and most combative language of his presidency.

然而，如今距離期中選舉只有兩個月，拜登故意少花時間讚揚妥協的優點，卻花更多時間疾呼民主面臨的危險，使用他總統任期內最尖銳、最好鬥的措辭。

He has accused Republicans of embracing “semi-fascism” by paying fealty to former President Donald Trump. He has blasted the party for being “full of anger, violence, hate and division.” And he has warned that the danger from Republicans loyal to Trump went far beyond differences in policy.

他指責共和黨人對前總統川普表示忠誠，是在擁抱「半法西斯主義」。他抨擊共和黨「充滿憤怒、暴力、仇恨和分裂」。他還警告，共和黨人忠於川普帶來的危險，遠遠超出政策歧見。

“They’re a threat to our very democracy,” he said of a party that he has spent a half-century working with to find common ground. “They refuse to accept the will of the people. They embrace political violence.”

對於這個他花了半世紀尋求共識的政黨，他說：「他們是對我們民主的威脅。他們拒絕接受人民的意願。 他們擁抱政治暴力」。

After weeks of internal White House strategy sessions, the president and his aides have devised a confrontational election-season approach that focuses on Biden’s accomplishments coupled with an aggressive political assault on the GOP, including the poll-tested phrase he began using this spring: “ultra-MAGA Republicans.”

經過數周的白宮內部戰略會議，拜登總統和他的幕僚們設計了一種對抗性的選舉季手法，把重點放在拜登的成就以及對共和黨進行猛烈的政治攻擊，包括今年春天他開始使用、經過民調考驗的名詞：「極端『讓美國再次偉大』共和黨人」。

Now, with Trump once again at the center of a criminal investigation, this time over his handling of classified documents, Biden has seized the moment to press a case that voters cannot risk a return to a party in the thrall of the former president.

現在，隨著川普再次成為刑事調查中心，這次是因為他對機密文件的處理，拜登抓住這個時機，力促選民不要冒險重回一個受前總統束縛的政黨懷抱。

“After a successful past couple of months, the president and Democrats have effectively turned this midterm into a choice, when it’s typically a referendum on the party in the White House,” said Stephanie Cutter, a veteran Democratic strategist. “The president now is articulating that choice, pretty damned well and at just the right time.”

資深民主黨策士史蒂芬妮．卡特說：「在過去幾個月的成功後，總統和民主黨人實際上已將這次期中選舉變成一個選擇，而期中選舉通常是對執掌白宮政黨公投。總統現在在正確的時間，非常準確地闡明這個選擇。」

She added, “The choice couldn’t be clearer — a reminder of what people rejected just two years ago.”

她還說：「這個選擇再清楚不過了，提醒人們兩年前拒絕了什麼。」

Biden is leaning into more political attacks, aides and allies said, in part because of what he sees as a growing embrace of violent political speech by Republicans and a threat to the democratic process of governing. The aides said he was dismayed by the number of Trump-backed election deniers who have won Republican primaries for governor or secretary of state across the country.

拜登幕僚和盟友說，拜登正傾向發動更多政治攻擊，部分係因他認為共和黨人日益傾向發表暴力政治言論，威脅治理的民主過程。幕僚們說，川普支持的否認總統大選者，不少人在全國各地共和黨州長或州務卿初選獲勝，拜登對此感到失望。

Biden, whose own approval ratings have begun to improve slightly since lows earlier this summer, is hoping that his party can maintain control of Congress and deliver a forceful rebuke to Trump and his followers.

拜登的支持率已從今夏稍早低點開始略有上升，他希望他的政黨能繼續控制國會，對川普及其支持者傳達有力的斥責。

文／Michael D. Shear　譯／陳韋廷

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【張佑生】

國父孫中山先生說「政治是管理眾人之事」，德意志帝國「鐵血首相」俾斯麥則說政治是「可能的藝術」（the art of the possible），「妥協」（compromise）就是要找出最佳的可能解決方案，得看各方能否找到common ground（共同點）。Common ground是不可數名詞，動詞常用find，類似字彙還有middle ground。

拜登曾任聯邦參議員36年，擅長促成兩黨達成妥協（reach a compromise）。除了reach，還可用accept, achieve, agree, arrive at, find, make, negotiate, strike。堪稱人際關係的至理名言：In any relationship, you have to make compromises.

形容詞compromising跟compromise並沒有什麼關係，它指的是不欲為人知，公開後可能對名聲有損的事物，例如所謂的「不雅照」就可以用compromising photos。與compromise有關的形容詞則是compromissory；例如仲裁協議／條款就是compromissory agreement╱clause。