唐纳德·特朗普周一在内布拉斯加州发表演讲。尽管他冗长的集会演讲带有表演性质，但这绝非布鲁斯·斯普林斯汀的专辑。他再次对失控的世界进行了阴暗的沉思：除非美国民众信任他，让他动用总统职位的庞大权力来消灭对手，否则美国城市被摧毁的可能性正与日俱增。
Donald Trump was in Nebraska on Monday, and though his long rally speech had elements of a performance, this was no Bruce Springsteen album. He offered another dark meditation on a world spiraling out of control, one in which the destruction of American cities is increasingly a possibility, unless Americans trust him to use the vast powers of the presidency to annihilate his foes.
当特朗普暗示伊朗可能发动核攻击并“摧毁”洛杉矶或圣迭戈时，他激起了众怒。加州领导人则对特朗普的危言耸听表示轻蔑。
The president drew fury when he suggested that Iran could launch a nuclear attack and “take out” Los Angeles or San Diego. California leaders reacted with scorn at Trump`s alarmism.
州长加文·纽森谴责特朗普“精神错乱且危险”，而洛杉矶和圣迭戈的市长卡伦·巴斯与托德·格洛里亚则强烈反对将他们的城市置于危险之中——即便这危险仅存在于他狂热的幻想中。
Governor Gavin Newsom denounced Trump as “deranged and dangerous”, while the mayors of Los Angeles and San Diego, Karen Bass and Todd Gloria, objected strenuously to putting their cities in harm`s way, even if only in his feverish imagination.
或许特朗普演讲中最严重的问题——而问题确实不少——并非在于它生动地描绘了太平洋沿岸的末日景象，而是它过于脱离现实，几乎没有任何事实依据。
Perhaps the worst problem with Trump`s speech – and there were many – was not that it vividly daydreamed about Armageddon-on-the-Pacific. It was just so delusional that it had almost no basis in fact at all.
当一个国家的领导人无法被信任去做出准确陈述时，这本身就会破坏稳定；而当这个国家是1945年以来一直捍卫基于规则的国际秩序的美国时，情况尤其令人担忧。
It is inherently destabilizing when a nation`s leader cannot be trusted to make an accurate statement, and the situation is especially troubling when the nation is the United States, the defender of the rules-based order since 1945.
首先来看这一主张本身。从演讲稿中来看，这些话听起来并不通顺。当总统开始他著名的“编织”时，这几乎就像无意义的吟唱——这是他用来形容自己从一个半成形的想法跳跃到另一个想法的方式，就像骑在发狂野马上的马戏团小丑。
First, the claim itself. When read inside the transcript, the words dont make a great deal of sense. Its almost like scat singing as the president goes into his famous “weave”, his word for the way he lurches from one half-formed thought to another, like a rodeo clown on a bucking bronco.
“[卡玛拉]偷走了很多东西，但那些东西并没有取得很好的效果。但我希望，我希望看到一场巨大的胜利。你们想看到一场巨大的胜利，因为这能证明我们所做的一切都是正确的。再说一遍，请记住，‘胜利’这个词有点人为，有点夸张。为了保持世界安全、保持我们国家的安全，这只是一个微不足道的代价。”
“[Kamala] stole a lot of things that didnt work out too well. But I want, I wanna see, I wanna see a tremendous victory. You wanna see a tremendous victory, because it verifies all the things we did. And again, remember, with the word, its just artificial, its a little bit high. Its a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe.
“他们可以摧毁一座城市。让他们摧毁吧，让他们摧毁洛杉矶。让他们摧毁圣地亚哥。这其实只是要付出的一个非常微小的代价，而且很快就会结束。战争基本上已经快结束了。”如果他说的是战争“已经快结束了”，那他显然说错了，因为这场冲突已经持续到了第八个月，丝毫没有解决的迹象。但如果他说的是中期选举，那他确实说对了——选举很快就会结束，而且结果对他来说不会好。
“They can take out a city. Let them take, let it, let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego. Thats, this is a very small price to pay, and its gonna be over very soon. Its essentially almost over with.”If he was talking about the war as being “almost over with”, then hes certainly wrong, as the conflict drags into its eighth month with no sign of resolution. But if he was talking about the midterms, then he`s correct that it will end soon, and not well for him.
实际上，他现在必须前往一个共和党占主导地位的州中最保守的地区，才能维持自己不断下滑的支持率。周一晚上的集会在内布拉斯加州哈勒县的州博览会场举行，而该县在2020年的人口仅为62,895人。就连农民也对这场战争感到担忧，因为它推高了化肥和柴油的价格。
In effect, he now has to go into the reddest part of a red state to sustain his vanishing popularity. Monday night`s rally was held at the Nebraska State Fairgrounds, in Hall county, Nebraska, which had a population of 62,895 in 2020. Even farmers are wary of this war, which has raised the price of fertilizers and diesel.
关于洛杉矶和圣地亚哥的言论，坦率地说，相当模糊。他可能担心伊朗的核计划能够瞄准洛杉矶或圣地亚哥。但他说“让他们……”时，听起来几乎像是在鼓励他们这么做，就像约翰·F·肯尼迪在柏林时，将这座城市作为勇气的典范，并用英语和德语说道：“让他们来柏林吧。”
The language about LA and San Diego was to be fair, quite vague. Presumably, he was worried that Iran`s nuclear program might be able to target LA or San Diego. But by saying “let them …” it almost sounded like he was encouraging them to, as when John F Kennedy, in Berlin, held up that city as a model of courage and said: “Let them come to Berlin,” in both English and German).
无论如何，这种情况根本不可能发生，他的军事顾问们知道这一点，甚至他自己也在某种程度上必须明白。伊朗没有核武器，其导弹也无法抵达美国东海岸或西海岸。
In either case, there is no possibility of it happening, as his military advisers know, and as even he must know at some level. Iran does not have a nuclear weapon, nor can its missiles reach the United States, on either the east or west coast.
此外，哪怕只是讨论这种难以想象的威胁，也是极其不负责任的行为。所有外国领导人都明白，任何使用核武器攻击美国的行为都会招致压倒性的反击。这就是所谓的威慑。
Furthermore, it is the height of irresponsibility to even discuss such an unimaginable threat. All foreign leaders understand that any attack on the United States with a nuclear weapon would result in an overwhelming counterattack. It`s called deterrence.
正是这种认知——以及历任美国总统在谈论核武器时所采取的谨慎态度——多年来帮助维持了和平。如今，我们似乎正进入一个新时代：国内的政治绝望正在导致国外越来越失控的威胁。
It is that knowledge – and the cautious way in which previous American presidents have talked about nuclear weapons – that has helped to preserve the peace all these years. We appear to be entering a new era, in which political desperation at home leads to increasingly unhinged threats abroad.
演讲的其余部分也是一团糟。尽管冷战已于1991年结束，但他仍大肆进行“红鲱鱼”式攻击。此外，还有那些常见的校园式侮辱，这次的目标是德克萨斯州的民主党参议员候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科（“我称他为阿尔弗雷德·E·纽曼”）和佐治亚州参议员乔恩·奥索夫（“在我看来，他长得像皮维·赫尔曼”）。
The rest of the speech was also a mess. There was a lot of red-baiting, despite the fact that the cold war ended in 1991. There were the usual schoolyard insults, in this case lobbed toward the Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico (“I call him Alfred E Neuman”) and Georgia senator Jon Ossoff (“he looks like Pee-wee Herman to me”).
他还不断煽动情绪，却毫无事实依据。他的说法常常自相矛盾：特朗普一方面声称伊朗已经“手无缚鸡之力”（“我们正在狠狠教训伊朗”），另一方面又说伊朗仍然是致命威胁，有能力摧毁我们第二和第八大城市。到底哪个才是真的？我们反复听到伊朗的核计划已被“彻底摧毁”。但如果真是这样，我们为何仍在战争之中？
And more pot-stirring, with no basis in fact. Often, his claims undermined each other, as Trump claimed both that Iran has been rendered toothless (“were kicking Irans ass”) and that it remains a lethal threat, capable of destroying our second- and eighth-largest cities. Which one is it? Over and over, we have heard that Iran`s nuclear program has been “obliterated”. But if so, why are we still at war?
正如最粗略的事实核查所显示的那样，演讲的其余部分依旧是那些惯常的歪曲和谎言的混合物。特朗普在某个时候令人困惑地说道：“我们想要诚实。”是的，我们确实想要。但我们能否真的得到诚实，则是另一个完全不同的问题。
The rest of the speech was the usual farrago of distortions and lies, as the most casual effort to factcheck shows. “We want honest,” Trump said at one point, confusingly. Yes, we do. But whether we are going to get it, is another question entirely.
泰德·威德默曾担任白宫演讲稿撰写人，现任《美国演讲集》（American Speeches）的编辑，并出版了近期发行的《鲜活的宣言：美国建国文本传记》（The Living Declaration: A Biography of America's Founding Text），这两部作品均由美国图书馆出版社（Library of America）出版。
Ted Widmer, a former White House speechwriter, is the editor of American Speeches, and the recently published The Living Declaration: A Biography of America`s Founding Text, both published by the Library of America