三周前，在达拉斯举行的中期党代会上，共和党人选择将副总统JD·万斯推上聚光灯，让他率领队伍迎接十一月的选举。他关于国家未来的演讲，仿佛可以直接对明尼苏达州圣克劳德市及其周边地区发表。
Three weeks ago in Dallas, at the midterm convention, Republicans chose to put Vice President JD Vance in the spotlight, to lead the troops to November. His speech, about the future of the nation, could have been addressed directly to the town of St. Cloud, Minnesota, and its environs.
在那次讲话中，谈及自己孩子的未来时，万斯表示：“我希望，无论他们是从事科技行业还是制造业，美国企业都应雇佣美国工人，依靠美国人民，并确保我们用美国人的双手打造下一代伟大的美国产品。”你几乎能听到这些话语在十九世纪红砖砌成的历史市中心回荡。这颇具谜题意味，因为通常，对于这样一个规模的城市——大约八万人口——其处于上升还是下降趋势是相当明显的。但圣克劳德似乎，嗯，停滞在中间。JD·万斯共和党主题演讲中揭示其美国愿景的一句话在市民生活的积极方面，营业中的企业似乎蓬勃发展。并非每个小型都会区的市中心，都能在周二午餐时间看到座无虚席的餐厅。此外，还有志愿者在粉刷沿人行道排列的花坛，这是公民参与度高的另一个积极信号。
In those remarks, referring to the future of his own kids, Vance said, "I want, whether they work in tech or manufacturing, American businesses to hire American workers, to rely on American people and to ensure that we build the next generation of great American products with American hands." You can almost hear those words echoing around the historic downtown of 19th century red brick, and it is a bit of a puzzle, because usually it is fairly obvious whether a city of this size — about 80,000 souls — is ascending or descending. But St. Cloud seems, well, stuck in the middle. THE ONE LINE FROM JD VANCE’S GOP KEYNOTE THAT REVEALS HIS VISION FOR AMERICA On the positive side of the civic ledger is the fact that the businesses that are open seem to be thriving. It's not in every minor metro downtown that you see packed restaurants for lunch on a Tuesday. There were also volunteers out painting the planters that line the sidewalk, another very positive sign of civic engagement.
另一方面，近一半的可用商业空间是空置的——就像一位英俊的冰球运动员缺了几颗牙——而且至少目前，客流量不足以支撑更多零售商。
THE ONE LINE FROM JD VANCE’S GOP KEYNOTE THAT REVEALS HIS VISION FOR AMERICA On the positive side of the civic ledger is the fact that the businesses that are open seem to be thriving. It's not in every minor metro downtown that you see packed restaurants for lunch on a Tuesday. There were also volunteers out painting the planters that line the sidewalk, another very positive sign of civic engagement.
现年四十多岁的罗布在2000年代初就读于附近的大学，他告诉福克斯新闻数字版：“那时市中心每晚都挤满了人，你几乎动弹不得，我觉得它再也回不到那种状态了。”当我问他如何看待这座城市的发展时，他说：“现在好多了，疫情以来好多了，但有点停滞不前了。”他并不是唯一一个使用这个特定词汇的人。这个词同样适用于更广泛的国家层面。
On the downside, almost half of the available commercial space is empty — like a handsome hockey player with some missing teeth — and foot traffic, at least for now, is not heavy enough to support many more retailers. Rob, now in his 40s, went to college at the nearby university in the early 2000s and told Fox News Digital, "Back then downtown was packed every night, you could barely move, I don’t think it's ever getting back to that." When I asked how he thought the town was doing, he said, "Better these days, better since COVID, but it's kind of plateaued," and he was not the only person I spoke to who used that particular word.
珍妮丝是另一位自20世纪90年代就一直居住在这里的居民，她从事房地产行业。她认为该小镇经济衰退的起点可以追溯到赫伯格百货公司的倒闭——这家百货公司成立于1927年，最终于2018年彻底关闭。
One that can also be applied to much of the broader nation.
“那是一个巨大的‘空洞’，就位于市中心的核心地带，”她说，“而且没有任何东西能够填补这个空缺。”大约在同一时期，该地区的几家工厂也相继关闭了。更糟糕的是，2019年圣克劳德州立大学还取消了其橄榄球项目，这对一个以大学城闻名的小镇来说无疑是个坏消息。
Janice, another long-time resident dating back to the 1990s who works in real estate, set the date of the town’s downturn a bit earlier, with the closing of Herberger's department store — which opened in 1927 and shut down for good in 2018.
不过，也有一些积极的迹象：2025年3月，在特朗普就职后不久，商人查德·奥布莱恩在市中心开了一家复古服饰店；如今他已经在同一街区开了第二家店，越来越多的商家开始重新活跃起来。
"It’s a huge hole, right in the heart of downtown," she said, "and there isn’t anything to fill it." It was around this time that several factories in the area also closed down. To add insult to injury, in 2019, St. Cloud State University dropped its football program, never a great sign for a college town.
“我认为我们市中心的商业运作模式、吸引顾客的方式，以及我们销售的商品，都非常适合这里的消费需求，”奥布莱恩在接受福克斯新闻数字频道采访时说道。不过他也表示，如果有更多人居住在这里，无疑会进一步促进经济发展。
But there are seeds of growth as well, and one of the planters, Chad O’Brien, opened a vintage store downtown in March 2025, just after Trump’s inauguration, and now has two on the same block, as businesses bubble up to life.
归根结底，这就是为什么万斯提出的“振兴制造业”以及“奖励留在美国的企业”的政策对圣克劳德来说如此合适。事实上，只要有几家企业（哪怕只有几千个工作岗位），就足以重新为这座城市带来活力和繁荣。
"I think that the way the downtown works, the way that it draws people in, our business model and structure and the things that we sell seems like a really good fit," O’Brien told Fox News Digital, though he also said that more people living in the area would certainly help.
也许只需要一家拥有1500个就业岗位的大型工厂，就能填补那些环绕城市的独栋住宅的空缺；再有一家大型科技公司招聘300到500名年轻员工，让他们住在离酒吧和餐馆步行距离内的地方。对于这样一个小城市来说，这些改变就足以带来巨大的影响。
Ultimately, this is why Vance’s mission to reshore manufacturing and reward firms that stay in America is such a perfect fit for St. Cloud. Honestly, a handful of businesses, with a few thousand jobs, could easily bring some of the hustle and bustle back.
在圣克劳德，人们最关心的问题通常与索马里移民社区有关；但实际上这个问题包含两个不同的方面——这两个问题都属于副总统的职责范围。其中第一个问题是严重的欺诈丑闻。
Perhaps one big plant with 1,500 factory jobs that can fill the single-family homes that semicircle the city, and a big tech firm hiring 300 to 500 younger workers to live downtown in walking distance to the bars and eateries. In a city this small, that's all it takes to make a difference.
副总统万斯称移民社区在联邦欺诈案中呈现“明显模式”，随着调查范围扩大即使在返回机场的路上，同样从事美容行业的琳恩也向我讲述了她最近的一次载客经历：一位移民女性正在向她的朋友炫耀，说自己刚刚获得了政府补贴的住房——但她的男朋友已经有一套了，所以她们打算把这套房子租出去赚取现金。
The biggest concerns you hear in St. Cloud surround the Somali immigrant community, but this issue is actually two distinct problems — both of which are firmly in the Vice President’s portfolio, the first being the massive fraud scandal. VICE PRESIDENT VANCE SAYS MIGRANT COMMUNITIES SHOW 'CLEAR PATTERN' IN FEDERAL FRAUD AS INVESTIGATIONS WIDEN Even on the ride back to the airport, Lynn, who also works in the beauty industry, told me of a ride she had given recently where an immigrant woman was bragging to her friend that she had just secured government-subsidized housing — but her boyfriend already had it, so they were going to rent hers out for cash.
当她说出这些话时，我能看到琳恩握着方向盘的指节因用力而发白。她说：“这让我非常愤怒，我想帮助穷人，但这绝不能是正确的方式。”所有人都能认同欺诈行为是恶劣的，并且希望由万斯主导的打击欺诈的努力是有益的。
VICE PRESIDENT VANCE SAYS MIGRANT COMMUNITIES SHOW 'CLEAR PATTERN' IN FEDERAL FRAUD AS INVESTIGATIONS WIDEN Even on the ride back to the airport, Lynn, who also works in the beauty industry, told me of a ride she had given recently where an immigrant woman was bragging to her friend that she had just secured government-subsidized housing — but her boyfriend already had it, so they were going to rent hers out for cash.
然而，索马里问题的第二部分更为棘手且难以解决。那就是文化层面，这也是万斯在大会演讲中的另一个重要主题，而对此人们的看法不一。
I could see Lynn’s knuckles whiten on the steering wheel as she said, "It just makes me so mad, I want to help the poor, but this can’t be the way." Everyone can agree that the fraud is bad, and hopefully, that the efforts spearheaded by Vance to stop it are good.
我交谈的几个人对索马里人似乎不愿融入主流社会表达了深深的挫败感，但并非所有人都这么认为。特雷今年二十多岁，是当地一家手机店的销售经理，他雇用了一名索马里人来帮助接待索马里裔顾客。
But, the second part of the Somali issue is trickier and more intractable. It is the cultural component, another strong theme in Vance’s convention speech, and here opinions vary.
“他担心他们的孩子变得过于美国化，从而失去了自己的根源，”特雷说道，并补充道，“我确实看到了一些这种情况，很多青少年现在甚至都不会说他们的母语了。”
Several people I spoke with expressed deep frustration at the seeming unwillingness of Somalis to assimilate, but not everyone. Trey, in his late 20s, is the sales manager at a local phone store who hired a Somali to help with customers of Somali descent.
另一位六十多岁的先生，我在一家相当高档的休息室遇到他，他告诉我：“这些移民没有任何负面影响，全是好处，反对他们的唯一原因就是种族主义。”我委婉地提出，当然有些人认为他们的反对并非出于偏见，但他却更加坚持：“这只是种族主义。”不过，市中心是文化与经济关切交汇的地方，或者，在这种情况下，并未交汇。因为正如俄亥俄州斯普林菲尔德的海地社区一样，圣克劳德的索马里人在市中心是看不到的——他们几乎完全居住在自己的聚居区内。
"He’s worried that their kids are becoming too Americanized and losing their roots," Trey said, adding, "I do see some of that, a lot of the teenagers don’t even speak their language now." Another gentleman in his 60s, who I met at a fairly high-end lounge told me, "There is no downside to these immigrants, it is all upside and the only reason to be against it is racism." I gently suggested that there are certainly people who think they have non-bigoted objections, but he doubled down, "It’s only racism." Downtown, though, is the place where the cultural and economic concerns meet, or, in this case, do not meet, because just as is true with the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, the Somalis in St. Cloud are not to be seen downtown — living instead, almost exclusively in their own enclave.
索马里移民的涌入并未使圣克劳德市中心重新焕发生机，因为他们根本不去那里；而几千名土生土长的蓝领和白领工人倒是有可能为当地经济带来积极影响。
Another gentleman in his 60s, who I met at a fairly high-end lounge told me, "There is no downside to these immigrants, it is all upside and the only reason to be against it is racism." I gently suggested that there are certainly people who think they have non-bigoted objections, but he doubled down, "It’s only racism." Downtown, though, is the place where the cultural and economic concerns meet, or, in this case, do not meet, because just as is true with the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, the Somalis in St. Cloud are not to be seen downtown — living instead, almost exclusively in their own enclave.
从更广泛的角度来看，索马里社区将大部分收入汇回了索马里，这些资金并未重新投资到圣克劳德当地，因此他们对该地区的经济贡献确实值得质疑。
The influx of Somali immigrants has not revitalized downtown because they don’t go there. A few thousand blue and white collared native-born workers absolutely would.
圣克劳德西北方向不远处就是明尼苏达州的索克中心（Sauk Centre）——这座小镇正是辛克莱·刘易斯（Sinclair Lewis）创作经典小说《主街》（Main Street）的灵感来源。一个多世纪前，这部小说生动地描绘了美国小镇的独特风貌；今年夏天，许多外国游客再次被这种小镇的魅力所吸引。
More broadly, the Somali community sends so much of its income back to Somalia, money not being reinvested in St Cloud, that their overall economic contribution has to be questioned. Just northwest of St. Cloud is Sauk Centre, Minnesota, the real-life inspiration for Sinclair Lewis’ seminal novel Main Street, which over a century ago captured the uniqueness of the American small town — something that still charmed so many foreign World Cup travelers this past summer.
在像圣克劳德这样的小镇中（这样的小镇其实有数百座），万斯（Vance）的观点非常契合当地实际情况。他提出的“优先考虑美国利益、将就业机会重新分配到小型社区”的理念确实具有很强的说服力，也符合逻辑。
In these towns, like St. Cloud, and there are hundreds, Vance’s message is a perfect fit. His blend of America first and reshoring jobs to small communities truly does resonate, and makes sense.
正如万斯及其激进的民粹主义言论为共和党在中期选举中赢得了优势一样，这一理念也必将在未来继续发挥作用。换句话说，副总统先生，您准备好迎接媒体的关注了吗？
Just as Vance and his muscular populist message kicked off the midterms for the GOP, in October, it must carry it through. In other words, Mr. Vice President, are you ready for your close-up?