共和党的根基已经动摇。我不是指选举层面 — — 虽然那也可能发生。我指的是政治专业素养。
The bottom has fallen out of the Republican Party. I don’t mean electorally — though that could happen too. I’m talking about political professionalism.
首先是候选人素质。得克萨斯州司法部长肯·帕克斯顿，如今参选参议员，存在多重问题，包括他在除夕夜与两名被起诉的逃犯在迪拜狂欢，其中一人仍是其重要竞选捐款人。但他只是冰山一角。
First, there’s candidate quality. Ken Paxton, Texas Attorney General and now a candidate for the Senate, has multiple problems, including that he spent New Year’s Eve partying in Dubai with two indicted fugitives, one of whom was a big campaign donor. But he is just the tip of the iceberg.
还有维克托·马克思，正在角逐科罗拉多州州长职位，其表现之差，以至于科罗拉多州共和党前任主席都无法支持他。再比如，获特朗普总统背书的播客主持人布兰登·赫雷拉，正竞争得克萨斯州众议院席位。他的节目噱头是故意粗俗 — — 他曾公开嘲笑耶稣，并大肆宣传一种据称能增加射精量的补充剂，赫雷拉表示他喜欢这种产品，因为它能让他“让随机女性感到困惑”。
There’s Victor Marx, running for Colorado governor, who is so bad that even a former head of the Colorado Republican Party can’t vote for him. Then there is podcaster Brandon Herrera, endorsed by President Trump, who is competing for a House seat in Texas. His on-air shtick is to be intentionally vile — here he is mocking Jesus and talking up a supplement that will allegedly increase your ejaculate volume, which Herrera says he likes because it allows him to “bewilder random women.”
即便共和党内部也有人称他为“踏着正步的极端分子”。佐治亚州参议员候选人、另一位获得特朗普背书的迈克·柯林斯众议员，其两名竞选组织者同时也是白人民族主义团体的领导人。他的女婿是个公开的白人至上主义者。即便不谈道德问题，在像佐治亚州这样快速多元化的州里推出这样的候选人，简直是政治失职。
Even Republicans say he is a “goose-stepping extremist.”Rep. Mike Collins, candidate for Senate in Georgia and another Trump endorsement, had two campaign organizers who were also leaders of a white nationalist group. His son-in-law is a flaming white supremacist. Moral concerns aside, running a candidate like this in a rapidly diversifying state like Georgia is political malpractice.
这些糟糕的候选人 — — 而这仅是冰山一角 — — 与同样低劣的信息传播形成匹配。
These awful candidates — and this is just a sampling — are matched by equally awful messaging.
不久之前，共和党仍被公认为政治信息传播的高手，尤其是在攻击性广告方面。正是共和党人把威利·霍顿（Willie Horton）带入了1988年和2004年的“快船老兵为真相而战”（Swift Boat Veterans for Truth）事件。尽管有人可能对其伦理存疑，但即便是民主党也无法否认其有效性。
It wasn’t that long ago that Republicans were the acknowledged masters of political messaging, especially when it came to the attack ad. It was Republicans who brought you Willie Horton in 1988 and 2004’s Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. You might quibble with the ethics, but even Democrats can’t argue with their effectiveness.
即使在2024年，共和党也偶尔会闪现出卓越的表现。也许本次竞选中最有效的广告就是臭名昭著的“他们/他们”广告。但如今？共和党的整个信息策略围绕着坚持认为“可负担性”是一个骗局，并且如果共和党失去对国会的控制，共产主义者将摧毁美国。
Even in 2024, Republicans showed occasional flashes of brilliance. Perhaps the most effective ad of the campaign was the infamous They/Them ad. But now? The entire Republican messaging strategy revolves around insisting that “affordability” is a hoax and that, if Republicans lose control of Congress, communists will destroy America.
这种信息不仅无效，而且具有冒犯性。特朗普自己曾将“让美国再次负担得起”作为他2024年竞选的基石。既然他在任期间恰好做了相反的事情，他的新信息似乎是“别抱怨了”。用特朗普的话说，更高的汽油价格是“为我们所做的事情付出的非常便宜的代价”。共和党推动的另一个主要主题是，如果民主党夺取国会控制权，将会发生迫在眉睫的共产主义接管。特朗普甚至声称，如果中期选举对他不利，他将成为最后一位共和党总统。
This messaging isn’t just ineffective, it’s insulting. Trump himself made “making America affordable again” the cornerstone of his 2024 campaign. Having done the opposite once in office, his new message seems to be “stop whining.”In Trump’s words, higher gas prices are “a very inexpensive price to pay for what we’ve done.”The other big theme being pushed by Republicans is that there will be an imminent communist takeover if Democrats take control of Congress. Trump is even claiming that he will be the last Republican president should the midterms go badly for him.
确实，今年有少数自称社会主义者赢得了民主党初选。但认为这超出了党派政治正常的给予与索取的范围这一想法是可笑的，尤其是当共和党自己也在提名一些极端分子时，相比之下，即使是民主党中最极端的候选人看起来也像托马斯·杰斐逊。
It’s true that a few self-proclaimed socialists have won Democratic primaries this year. But the idea that this is something other than the normal give-and-take of party politics is laughable, especially when the Republicans themselves are fielding nutjobs that make the most extreme of Democratic candidates look like Thomas Jefferson by comparison.
首先，与美国民主社会主义者组织（Democratic Socialists of America）结盟的候选人仅占民主党候选人的极少数。即使他们全部获胜——而他们不会——他们也只会成为自由党团（Freedom Caucus）的左翼版本，一个极少数派，除了破坏民主党领导层的计划之外几乎不做其他事情。如果历史能作参考，这将迫使民主党在想要完成任何事情时不得不与共和党达成协议。无论如何，尽管共和党在制造恐慌，但只要特朗普仍是总统，即使民主党同时控制众议院和参议院，他们也无法做太多事情。
For starters, the candidates aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America make up a tiny fraction of Democratic candidates. Even if they all win, which they won’t, they will end up as the left-wing version of the Freedom Caucus, a tiny minority that does very little except wreck the plans of Democratic leadership. If history is anything to go by, that will force Democrats to make deals with Republicans if they want to get anything done. In any event, despite Republican scaremongering, Democrats can’t do much even if they control both the House and the Senate as long as Trump is president.
因此，选举“头号妖魔”阿卜杜勒·埃尔赛德（民主党人）进入参议院——尽管共和党人可能让你以为他并非如此，但他出生于密歇根州——几乎不会标志着美国民主的终结。毕竟，我们已经度过了近20年的伯尼·桑德斯参议员（独立人士-佛蒙特州）时代。
So electing chief boogeyman Abdul El-Sayed (D) to the Senate — who, despite what you might think from listening to Republicans, was born in Michigan — would hardly spell the end of American democracy. After all, we’ve survived almost 20 years of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
为什么曾经引以为豪的共和党政治传统会遭遇这一切？恐怕这一切都要归咎于特朗普，以及他强迫共和党追随者服从其意志的努力。特朗普转而反对现任参议员约翰·科宁（共和党人-得克萨斯州），转而支持帕克斯顿，除了想证明自己能毁掉对方的政治生涯之外，毫无道理。
Why is all this happening to the once-proud political tradition of the Republican Party? I’m afraid it all traces back to Trump and his efforts to enforce his will on the Republican faithful. There was no earthly reason for Trump to turn on incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) in favor of Paxton, except that Trump wanted to prove he could end his career.
就像他对待科宁那样，特朗普喜欢仪式性地羞辱身边的人。现在他试图对选民做类似的事。这些极不合格的候选人和糟糕的竞选信息本身就是一种信息：你得吃下这些垃圾，因为我命令你。
Just as he did with Cornyn, Trump enjoys ritually humiliating those around him. Now he is trying to do something similar to voters. These grossly unfit candidates and the awful messaging are themselves a message: You’ll eat this slop because I tell you to.
国会中的共和党人可能觉得，为了保住工作，不得不忍受这些侮辱和屈辱。选民则不然。请记住11月3日。
Congressional Republicans may feel they have to put up with these insults and indignities to keep their jobs. Voters don’t. Remember that on Nov. 3.
克里斯·特鲁克斯是一名上诉律师，曾担任2008年约翰·麦凯恩初选竞选活动的南加州主席。
Chris Truax is an appellate attorney who served as Southern California chair for John McCain’s primary campaign in 2008.