康涅狄格州格林威治——在政界圈子里，这个城镇是一个词的代名词：筹款。
GREENWICH, Conn.—This is a town that has been shorthand in political circles for one word: fundraising.
民主党和共和党的捐赠者敞开自家豪宅的大门举办聚会，竞选公职的候选人在此交际、品酒、品尝开胃菜，并回答他们希望能为其竞选提供资金的人提出的问题。
Democratic and Republican donors throw open the doors of their beautiful homes and hold parties where candidates for office mingle, drink wine, munch on appetizers and take questions from people they hope will fund their campaigns.
这也是我成长的地方。随着唐纳德·特朗普的最后一次中期选举临近，我回到格林威治，想了解一些城镇领袖——以及捐赠者——在想什么。
It is also where I grew up. And I went back to Greenwich to get a sense for what some of the town leaders—and donors—are thinking as we approach Donald Trump’s final midterms.
为了真正领略这个城镇豪华房产的风貌，我们前往格林威治港，游览了我高中时代以来涌现的滨水豪宅。我们还在格林威治大道——这个城镇的商业中心——逗留了一段时间。
To truly see the town’s opulent properties, we headed out to Greenwich Harbor for a tour of the waterfront mansions that have sprung up since I was in high school there. And we spent some time on Greenwich Avenue—the town’s hub of commerce.
我发现，这里的民主党人和共和党人异口同声地说：美国政治变得太极端了。他们说，两党都偏离中间路线太远，希望随着特朗普时代的结束，民粹主义热潮会退去。
I found that Democrats and Republicans here offered a similar refrain: Politics in the U.S. has gotten too extreme. They said the parties have veered too far from the center and they hoped that populist fever would fade as the Trump era closes.
从格林威治居民倾向于在资金上支持谁，可以看出这种倾向。受青睐的候选人包括缅因州温和派共和党参议员苏珊·柯林斯和佐治亚州民主党参议员乔恩·奥索夫。
You can see this in who Greenwich residents tend to support financially. Favored candidates include people like Susan Collins, the moderate Republican senator from Maine and John Ossoff, the Democratic senator from Georgia.
一些居民表示，他们对党派恶语相向感到厌倦，以至于完全停止了政治捐款。
Some residents say they have gotten so tired of the partisan vitriol that they have stopped political contributions altogether.
这种温和情绪与我成长时这里的氛围相符。这里曾被称为老派保守主义的堡垒，乔治·H·W·布什在此长大。他的父亲是参议员普雷斯科特·布什，一位共和党人，因公开反对参议员约瑟夫·麦卡锡及其反共运动的过激做法而闻名。
The moderate sentiment matches the vibe that existed when I grew up. It was known as a bastion of old-school conservatism, where George H.W. Bush was raised. His father was Sen. Prescott Bush, a Republican who famously stood up to Sen. Joseph McCarthy and the excesses in his anticommunist campaign.
虽然特朗普给这个城镇留下的印记较少，但他在20世纪80年代曾住在一座滨水豪宅里。该房产几易其主，最近以3000多万美元的价格售予一位想要彻底翻新的新主人。
Though he left less of a stamp on the town, it is also where Trump lived in the 1980s, in a waterfront mansion. The property has changed hands a few times, and it recently sold for more than $30 million to a new owner who wants to overhaul it.
在这个与金钱紧密相连的小镇上，居民们也日益对不断扩大的贫富差距感到焦虑。我们在她位于此地的办公室采访了一位知名女企业家艾米·古德弗伦德，她说财富曲线两端的“尾部”都变得过于粗大。
People who live in this town—that is so synonymous with money—are also becoming increasingly anxious about the widening wealth gap. One prominent businesswoman we spoke with at her offices here, Amy Goodfriend, said that the tails on both sides of the wealth curve have gotten too thick.
康涅狄格州众议员、民主党人史蒂夫·梅斯基斯代表格林尼治，他邀请我们到家中，表达了对国家在社会和政治层面变得失去约束的深切担忧。他主要担心的是，正如他所说，政治中间派能否守住阵地。
State Rep. Steve Meskers, a Democrat who represents Greenwich in Connecticut’s General Assembly, invited us into his home and expressed deep concern that the country is becoming socially and politically untethered. A main concern of his is whether, as he put it, the political center will hold.