离选举只有几周时间了，却感觉像漫长的一个世纪。期中选举正式进入了迫在眉睫的阶段。无论是沉迷末日新闻的焦虑者、政治迷，还是为生活奔波的人，我们都懂。战争、不受欢迎的总统、MAGA（让美国再次伟大运动）对国会的占有，以及一帮亿万富翁轻率地搞砸我们的工作。这一切确实让人压力山大。
It’s only a few weeks away. It feels like an eternity. The midterm elections have officially entered their looming phase. Worriers of all stripes (doomscrollers, political junkies, fuel tank fillers), we get it. There’s a war, an unpopular president, a MAGA capture of Congress, and a bunch of multibillionaires blithely slop-ifying our jobs. It’s a lot. That’s where we come in.
这就是我们切入的地方。我们知道如何分辨哪些该关注、哪些该忽视，并且我们很早就识别出了塑造这次选举的重大议题。当地方团体跨越党派界限联合起来反对数据中心时，我们就在现场。我们剖析了基督教民族主义的兴起及其对政府最高层的渗透。我们从未放松对选举干预威胁以及全国范围内投票权遭到系统性侵蚀的警惕。
We know how to tease out what to pay attention to and what to tune out, and we were early to identify the big issues shaping this election. We were on the ground as local groups banded together across party lines to oppose data centers. We profiled the rise of Christian nationalism and its infiltration of the highest ranks of government. And we’ve never taken our eyes off the threat of election interference and the systematic erosion of voting rights across the country.
于是有了“压力测试”（Stress Test），这是一个全新的视频播客，由华盛顿特区分社长大卫·科恩（David Corn）和视频记者加里森·海耶斯（Garrison Hayes）主持。“面对这次期中选举，我们面临的可能是美国民主历史上经历的最大压力测试之一，”大卫解释道，“在2020年之后，我认为我们中的一些人——但不幸的是并非所有人——学到了一条教训：我们的民主是脆弱的。”
Enter “Stress Test,” a new video podcast from , hosted by Washington, DC, bureau chief David Corn and video correspondent Garrison Hayes. “We’re facing perhaps one of the biggest stress tests that American democracy has ever been through with these midterm elections,” David explains. “After 2020, I think one of the lessons that some of us learned, but unfortunately not everybody: Our democracy is fragile.”
在每周两期的突发剧场版节目中，大卫和加里森将与我们的记者探讨期中选举以及你应当关注的重点。当突发新闻改变选举进程时，他们将强强联手，成为你的伙伴，将你的压力（以及他们自己的压力）转化为关于我们民主未来的富有成效的讨论。正如加里森所说：“如果局势将要失控，我最想交谈的人就是大卫·科恩——当然，还有我们新闻编辑室里那些不可思议的记者们。”
In twice-weekly pop-up episodes, David and Garrison will talk to our reporters about the midterms and where you should be paying attention. They’ll team up when breaking news changes the course of the election, and they’ll be your companions, channeling your stress (and their own) into a productive discussion about the future of our democracy. As Garrison puts it: “If the fur is going to be flying, there’s no one I’d rather be talking to than David Corn—and, of course, the incredible journalists and reporters in our newsroom.”