若想见识共和党人真正的绝望模样，只需看看特朗普总统所在的佛罗里达州棕榈滩地区的共和党组织便知。
If you want to see the face of real Republican desperation, look no further than President Trump’s local Republican Party.
棕榈滩地区的共和党领袖们对11月可能出现的民主党大胜局面忧心忡忡，以至于他们正考虑采取极端手段来保住手中的权力——其中包括拒绝与一名因涉嫌性侵儿童而被捕的当选官员划清界限。
Republican leaders in Palm Beach, Fla. are so fearful of a November blue-wave election that they are considering extreme steps to protect their hold on power — including refusing to cut ties with an elected official arrested for alleged child sex abuse.
棕榈滩县法院书记官迈克·卡鲁索向《迈阿密先驱报》表示，尽管他于8月份遭逮捕并随后被停职，但他仍“决心赢得连任”。州政府官员迅速撤销了对卡鲁索连任竞选的支持，但当地的共和党人却依然力挺他。这样的行径足以让任何有良知的佛罗里达人作呕。
Palm Beach County Clerk of Courts Mike Caruso told the Miami Herald he still “intends to win” his race, despite being arrested in August and subsequently suspended from office. State officials swiftly withdrew their support from Caruso’s re-election campaign, but the Palm Beach Republicans still have Caruso’s back. It is enough to make any decent Floridian gag.
《迈阿密先驱报》于10月5日披露了这一消息，而就在同一天，声名狼藉的前众议院议长、伊利诺伊州共和党人丹尼斯·哈斯特也去世了。哈斯特曾因违反银行法规以掩盖自己性侵14岁及以下男童的罪行，在联邦监狱服刑15个月。
It was fitting that the Miami Herald broke its story on Oct. 5, the same day that disgraced former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) died. Hastert spent 15 months in federal prison for violating banking laws in an effort to cover up his admitted history of sexually abusing boys as young as 14.
唯一的区别在于：当初哈斯特的丑闻曝光时，共和党人尚且还有起码的尊严，选择与他决裂；而如今的共和党却毫无羞耻之心，依然死死抱住卡鲁索不放。
The only difference is that Republicans had the self-respect to cut ties with Hastert when his own scandal broke. The same cannot be said for a party still shamelessly clinging to Caruso.
几十年来，共和党人为保住权力不惜背弃自身价值观，如今他们早已丧失了基本的道德底线，连最基本的行事准则也荡然无存。特朗普主义的兴起及其对道德规范的漠视态度，更是彻底葬送了这个本就日渐道德沦丧的政党。只希望11月的惨败能促使共和党领袖们反思：他们的政党究竟已堕落成了多么低效且自私自利的丑恶存在。
After decades spent selling out their values in order to preserve their power, Republicans have shed so much of their basic decency that they finally have no guiding principles left. The rise of Trumpism and its anything-goes view of ethics proved to be the final nail in the coffin of a party that was already well on its way to moral hollowness. One can only hope a drubbing in November will give Republican leaders cause to reflect on the ineffective and self-serving abomination their party has become.
今年早些时候，共和党众议院议长迈克·约翰逊在一群保守派捐款人面前直言不讳：那些腐败的共和党人之所以能逍遥法外，全是因为他亲自在华盛顿“掌管着保护计划”。“我会罩着你们的，”约翰逊向这些金主们保证道。至于什么含蓄委婉，早被抛到九霄云外了。
Speaking to a room full of conservative donors earlier this year, Republican Speaker Mike Johnson made clear that the only thing keeping corrupt Republicans out of jail was the fact that he personally “run[s] the protection program” in Washington. “I’ll take care of you,” Johnson promised his financiers. So much for subtlety.
在这个早已摒弃道德底线的政党里，只要自称是共和党人，无论是谁都能符合所谓的“任职标准”。对他们而言，掌权才是一切，即便近一年来共和党人自己也承认：他们既无意也无力运用手中的权力去改善普通美国人的生活。
Under the new values-free party, any candidate meets their non-existent standard for office, so long as they say they are a Republican. Holding power is all that matters, even if Republicans themselves have admitted for nearly a year now that they are unwilling and unable to use that power in ways that improve the lives of regular Americans.
最近，俄亥俄州共和党众议员马克斯·米勒的家暴丑闻闹得沸沸扬扬，这本该是共和党人重拾良知的最后良机，但权力的诱惑终究再次占了上风。法庭文件显示，针对米勒的指控不胜枚举：往前妻艾米丽·莫雷诺胸口泼热水、用枪指着她的头，甚至导致女儿的锁骨骨折。
The domestic abuse scandal that recently consumed Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) offered Republicans one last opportunity to rediscover their consciences, but the lure of power prevailed once again. Court documents revealed a mountain of serious allegations against Miller, from throwing hot water on his ex-wife Emily Moreno’s chest to holding a gun to her head and even fracturing his daughter’s collarbone.
在一份法庭文件中，米勒两岁的女儿对母亲说道：“爸爸要杀了你。”对此，米勒的反应完全符合特朗普式的人品水准：他不仅矢口否认所有指控，还公然放话称要曝光前岳父——俄亥俄州共和党参议员伯尼·莫雷诺的隐私信息。他更是执意不肯退出竞选，理由也正如他所料：只要能保住这个关键的众议院席位，哪怕面对最严重的虐待指控，其他共和党人也会选择视而不见。
In one court document, Miller’s 2-year-old daughter turned to her mother and remarked, “Daddy kill you.”Miller responded with trademark Trumpian sleaze. In addition to denying the allegations, he publicly suggested he would release damaging personal information about his former father-in-law, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio). He also defiantly refused to end his re-election bid, reasoning (correctly, it turned out) that his fellow Republicans would ignore even the most extreme allegations of abuse if it meant holding on to a critical House seat.
上个月，众议院共和党会议主席、密歇根州众议员丽莎·麦克莱恩重申：“目前米勒仍是我们的候选人，”不过她也希望“这些指控都不是真的”。在白宫敦促共和党议员抛开道德底线、对米勒的丑闻闭口不谈之后，众议院议长也始终坚定地站在米勒身后。
Last month, House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) reiterated that Miller “is our nominee right now,” though she hopes “the allegations weren’t true.”The House Speaker has also remained staunchly in line behind Miller after the White House urged Republican lawmakers to swallow their morals and shut up about Miller’s problems.
“我们将支持我们的被提名人，”共和党全国委员会主席乔·格鲁特斯（Joe Gruters）今年8月在接受NewsNation采访时表示。“我们必须确保保住多数席位。”为了什么？对于一个没有信仰的政党，对于那些标榜家庭价值观、却为被指控犯有儿童猥亵罪和令人咋舌的家庭暴力行为的候选人撑腰的政客来说，立法多数席位有什么用？
“We’re gonna support our nominees,” Republican National Committee chairman Joe Gruters said in an interview with NewsNation back in August. “We need to make sure we hold the majorities.”For what? What good is a legislative majority to a party that believes in nothing and politicians who tout family values messaging while standing behind candidates accused of child molestation and jaw-dropping levels of domestic abuse?
对于一个像今天的共和党这样在道德和法律上都彻底沦陷的政党来说，执政多数席位唯一的用处就是充当保护其成员免受实质性问责的工具。它除了给其他人提供一个教科书般的典型案例——展示腐败分子如何将政府变成他们逍遥法外的工具——之外，别无他用。
For a party that is as morally and legally compromised as today’s Republicans, a governing majority is only useful as a tool to protect their own members from meaningful accountability. It offers nothing to the rest of us but a textbook example of how the corrupt turn government into a tool of their own impunity.
第119届国会的工作时间和通过的法案比50多年来的任何一届国会都要少。为了保护像米勒和特朗普这样的政客，他们付出了如此多的精力，以至于共和党人似乎已经没有时间去处理其他任何事情了。约翰逊甚至做出了最后一次公然对公众问责理念竖起中指的举动——他让这个毫无作为的众议院休会直到选举日之后——这一切都是为了避免将针对国防部长皮特·海格塞斯的弹劾条款提交众议院表决。
The 119th Congress has worked less and passed fewer bills than any Congress in more than 50 years. So much effort has been dedicated to protecting politicians like Miller and Trump that it appears Republicans ran out of time to do anything else. In one final, flagrant “screw you” to the very idea of public accountability, Johnson even recessed his do-nothing House until after Election Day — all to avoid bringing to the floor articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
特朗普、约翰逊以及国会中的MAGA共和党人几个月来一直在叫嚣，民主党掀起的选举浪潮将带来一波针对共和党人的逮捕潮。如果民主党在11月重新夺回权力，他们会发现绝不缺罪有应得的违法者。
Trump, Johnson and the MAGA Republicans in Congress have screamed for months that a Democratic wave election would bring with it a wave of Republican arrests. If Democrats do win back power in November, they’ll find no shortage of deserving perps.
马克斯·伯恩斯（Max Burns）是资深民主党战略家，“第三方略”（Third Degree Strategies）创始人。
Max Burns is a veteran Democratic strategist and founder of Third Degree Strategies.