四周前，九月刚刚拉开帷幕，唐纳德·特朗普在白宫为国会共和党人举办了一场活动，与会者听取了总统分享他对中期选举的一些计划。特朗普表示，在选举周期的最后一个月，他将主持一系列竞选活动，重点关注“35场竞选”。总统没有详细说明他将前往何处，但他向在场的共和党议员明确表示：如果你是一位几乎稳操胜券的现任议员，特朗普说，“请不要请我去你的地区发表演讲。”
Four weeks ago, as September was just getting underway, Donald Trump hosted a White House event for congressional Republicans, who heard the president share some of his plans for the midterm elections Trump said that over the final month of the cycle, he would headline a series of campaign events, with a specific focus on “35 races.”The president didn’t go into a lot of detail about where he was headed, but he made one thing clear to the GOP lawmakers in attendance: If you’re an incumbent who’s all but certain to win, Trump said, “please don’t ask me to come to your area and make a speech.”Instead, he added, his focus would be on Republican candidates who are “either tied or you’re winning by a little bit, or you’re losing by a little bit.”
相反，他补充道，他的重点将放在那些“要么打平手，要么只领先一点点，要么只落后一点点”的共和党候选人身上。四周后，距离选举日还剩35天，特朗普即将到来的行程安排逐渐清晰——令人惊讶的是，他的行程安排显得多么具有防御性。
Four weeks later, with 35 days remaining before Election Day, Trump’s upcoming travel schedule is coming into focus — and it’s remarkable how defensive his itinerary is. Politico reported President Donald Trump intends to spend the next 30 days campaigning for Republicans, many of whom are underwater in states the president easily carried two years ago.
《政治报》报道，唐纳德·特朗普总统打算在未来30天里为共和党人助选，其中许多人在两年前总统轻松拿下的州份中目前处于劣势。
Trump’s upcoming travel — including to Alabama, Oklahoma and Ohio this week — puts a focus on what Republican donors and operatives have feared for months: that even a gerrymandered House map and whopping cash advantage won’t be enough to save the House or Senate from Democrats.
特朗普即将到来的行程——包括本周前往阿拉巴马州、俄克拉荷马州和俄亥俄州——将焦点放在了共和党捐助者和操盘手数月来所担心的问题上：即使经过精心设计的众议院选区划分和巨大的资金优势，也可能不足以挽救众议院或参议院免于落入民主党手中。
For those keeping score, just two years ago, Trump carried Alabama by 31 points, Oklahoma by 34 points and Ohio by 11 points.
就目前形势而言，仅两年前，特朗普在阿拉巴马州以31个百分点的优势获胜，在俄克拉荷马州以34个百分点获胜，在俄亥俄州以11个百分点获胜。据报道，总统很快还将前往阿拉斯加，该州他以14个百分点的优势获胜。（周末，他还在田纳西州观看了一场大学橄榄球赛——该州他以30个百分点的优势获胜。）不想过分强调这一点，但在中期选举还剩五周、提前投票窗口即将开启之际，看到一位共和党总统在全国最红的几个州举办集会助选，这是一个不祥的信号。
The president is also reportedly soon headed to Alaska, which he won by 14 points. (Over the weekend, he also attended a college football game in Tennessee — a state he carried by 30 points.) Not to put too fine a point on this, but with five weeks to go in the midterms, and with the early voting window starting to open, it’s a bad sign to see a Republican president headlining rallies in some of the nation’s reddest states. It’s possible Trump might yet add some more traditional battlegrounds to his travel plans, but as things stand, one of two scenarios appears true. Either a) Republicans are in so much trouble that the president believes it’s necessary to appear in states he won by landslide margins in the last election cycle, in the hopes of preventing a total electoral catastrophe; or b) Republicans in competitive races have told their party’s unpopular president they don’t want to be seen with him, and a local event would do more harm than good.
特朗普或许还会在行程中增加一些更传统的摇摆州，但就目前情况来看，似乎存在两种可能：一是共和党陷入如此困境，以至于总统认为有必要现身上一轮选举中他大获全胜的州份，以期避免选举彻底溃败；二是竞争激烈选区的共和党人已告知本党这位不受欢迎的总统，他们不愿与他同台亮相，因为当地活动弊大于利。
Either way, this isn’t the landscape GOP officials were hoping for at this stage in the race.
无论哪种情况，这都不是共和党高层在这个阶段所期盼的竞选形势。特朗普称只会现身竞争激烈地区，为何却要前往铁板红州？MS NOW
The post Trump said he would only appear in competitive areas. So why is he headed to ruby-red states? MS NOW