俄罗斯“在乌克兰问题上表现不错”，且“并没有做太多事情”，唐纳德·特朗普总统在当天如此表示，就在这一天，俄罗斯对哈尔科夫附近一公园的袭击造成六名乌克兰人死亡，其中包括三名儿童。前一晚，莫斯科向基辅发射了十多枚弹道导弹。
Russia “has been fine on Ukraine” and “hasn’t been doing much”, President Donald Trump said, on the day a Russian strike on a park near Kharkiv killed six Ukrainians, including three children. The night before, Moscow hit Kyiv with over a dozen ballistic missiles.
此前，白宫批准了埃隆·马斯克的建议，阻碍乌克兰用于拦截来袭攻击的“星盾”卫星系统。实际上，当明显看出许多美国选民对这一破坏行为感到极度厌恶时，特朗普试图将自己与该行为划清界限：中期选举迫在眉睫。
This followed the White House’s approval of Elon Musk’s suggestion to impede the Starshield satellite system used by Ukraine to counter incoming attacks. Actually, Trump sought to distance himself from any connection to that act of sabotage, when it became clear how disgusted many American voters appeared to be about it: the midterm elections are imminent.
然而，特朗普对弗拉基米尔·普京一贯的纵容，得到了共和党在两院绝大多数成员的盲目支持。政府中没有一名成员提出异议，更不用说因此辞职了。
Yet Trump’s consistent indulgence of Vladimir Putin has been slavishly supported by the great mass of the Republican Party in both Houses. Not a single member of the administration has dissented, let alone resigned over it.
作为参议院外交关系委员会成员，现任国务卿马可·鲁比奥曾坚持认为普京是对西方安全的威胁，称其为“匪徒”。2022年底，他宣称：“泽连斯基和乌克兰人民正在自由的前沿阵线上战斗。他们的战斗就是我们的战斗，支持他们符合美国的直接国家利益。”他赞扬泽连斯基“在领导国家对抗这场无端侵略时表现出了难以置信的勇气”。
As a member of the Senate foreign relations committee, Marco Rubio, now secretary of state, had been adamant that Putin was a threat to the West’s security, referring to him as a “gangster”. In late 2022 he declared: “Zelensky and the Ukrainian people are fighting on the front lines of freedom. Their fight is our fight, and supporting them is in the direct national interest of the United States.”He praised Zelensky for “incredible courage in leading his country against this unprovoked aggression”.
上周，同一个马可·鲁比奥却认为有必要斥责同一个泽连斯基总统，因为后者敢于暗示特朗普政府与“星盾”系统的部分瘫痪有关：“这是丑闻。这是暴行。”真正的丑闻在于，资深共和党人忠实地追随特朗普在俄罗斯问题上的路线，这与他们迄今职业生涯所坚持的一切立场背道而驰。
Last week, the same Marco Rubio saw fit to upbraid the same President Zelensky for daring to suggest the Trump administration had any link to the partial disablement of Starshield: “That’s scandalous. That’s outrageous.”The true scandal is the way senior Republicans have dutifully followed the Trump line on Russia, in direct contradiction to everything they had stood for in their careers hitherto.
这甚至适用于已故共和党参议员林赛·格雷厄姆，他是美国援助乌克兰最具影响力的支持者；他曾一贯敦促犹豫不决的拜登政府向基辅提供远程导弹和战斗机，并推动将俄罗斯定性为恐怖主义国家支持者的立法。
This even applied to the late Republican senator Lindsey Graham, the most influential supporter of US aid for Ukraine; he had consistently pressed the hesitant Biden administration to supply long-range missiles and fighter jets to Kyiv, and for legislation designating Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.
然而，在令人震惊的2025年2月椭圆形办公室会晤之后，当时特朗普和副总统万斯公开蔑视泽连斯基并将其赶出，因为这位乌克兰领导人曾警告普京的真实面目，格雷厄姆却宣称：“我从未如此为总统感到自豪……我不知道我们是否还能再与泽连斯基做生意。” 部分由格雷厄姆起草的制裁立法即将生效，将俄罗斯列为制裁目标之一，但特朗普两周前却通过一项从克里姆林宫购买柴油的协议打破了该法案。然而，该法案专门授权总统使其表面目的失效。
Yet following the appalling February 2025 meeting in the Oval Office, when Trump and vice-president Vance treated Zelensky with open contempt and kicked him out, after the Ukrainian warned of Putin’s true nature, Graham declared “I have never been more proud of the president… I don’t know if we can ever do business with Zelensky again.”It was sanctions legislation partly crafted by Graham which was soon to come into force, identifying Russia as one of its targets, which Trump broke a fortnight ago, with a deal to purchase diesel from the Kremlin. Yet the Bill specifically allowed the president to disable its apparent purpose.
如果格雷厄姆还活着（他于去年7月突然去世），我怀疑他会找到某种方式，为特朗普荒谬的企图背书，即试图说服美国选民，是乌克兰对俄罗斯炼油厂的袭击导致了他们油价的大幅上涨，而不是总统自发发动的对伊朗战争。
If Graham were still alive (he died suddenly last July) I suspect he would have found a way to endorse Trump’s absurd attempt to persuade US voters that it was Ukraine’s attacks on Russian refineries that were responsible for their sharply increased pump prices, rather than the president’s entirely voluntary war on Iran.
与支持乌克兰联系最紧密的英国人鲍里斯·约翰逊谴责了这一决定。作为首相，他是普京派坦克开向基辅后，首位向乌克兰提供致命性武器的西方领导人，因此他在乌克兰备受推崇。但他对特朗普的赞誉同样乖张，尽管一直很明显，现任白宫主人对泽连斯基怀恨在心，并视普京为志同道合之人。
The Briton most associated with support for Ukraine, Boris Johnson, has condemned that decision. And he is revered in Ukraine for the way, as prime minister, he was the first Western leader to supply them with lethal weaponry after Putin sent his tanks trundling towards Kyiv. But he too has been perverse in his praise for Trump, even though it was always clear the current occupant of the White House bore a grudge against Zelensky and saw Putin as a man after his own heart.
白宫上一次授权停止向乌克兰提供卫星情报是在2025年3月初——随后俄罗斯也加强了致命轰炸。那一周我写了一篇专栏文章，阐述特朗普行为背后的原因，认为这与他长期以来希望其企业在俄罗斯赚钱、并期盼心存感激的普京——据埃隆·马斯克称，普京也是世界上最富有的人——给予回报有关。
The previous occasion when the White House authorised a disabling of satellite intelligence for Ukraine was early in March 2025 – also followed by intensified murderous Russian bombardment. That week I wrote a column setting out the reasons for Trump’s behaviour, arguing it was linked to a long-held desire for his business to make money in Russia, and the hope that a grateful Putin – who is also the richest man in the world (according to Elon Musk) – would reward him.
我的专栏结语写道：“身为总统的美国武装部队总司令，渴望将其与弗拉基米尔·普京的特殊关系变现，以谋取个人巨额利益，这显而易见，令人极度厌恶。”鲍里斯当天给我发邮件说：“你今天上午的文章一针见血。我几个月来一直这么想。一切都是为了钱。令人作呕。”但那周晚些时候，他自己的专栏却走向了另一个方向。
My column concluded: “It is abysmally obvious that the commander-in-chief of the US military, as the president is, hopes to monetise, for his own colossal gain, his special relationship with Vladimir Putin.”Boris emailed me the same day: “Your piece this morning bang on. I have been thinking the same for months. It’s all about money. Nauseating.”But later that week his own column took a different line.
在标题为“我信任并相信特朗普将动用储备箱底的一切手段重击普京” 的专栏中，鲍里斯写道：“我知道，唐纳德·特朗普内心真正希望看到一个主权乌克兰……我之所以比许多人更看好特朗普总统任期，其中一个原因是我相信他拥有恰到好处的强硬和谈判进取心，能够达成此事。”确实，他是极少数受邀出席特朗普就职典礼的英国政要之一。
Under the headline, “I trust and believe Trump WILL hit Putin with every shot in his locker” Boris wrote: “I know that in his heart Donald Trump truly wants a sovereign Ukraine… One of the reasons I was always more positive than many about a Trump presidency is that I believe he has the right toughness and negotiating aggression to pull it off.”Indeed, he was one of the few British figures invited to attend Trump’s inauguration.
极不寻常的是，典礼在国会大厦圆形大厅举行——正是2021年1月6日，一群受特朗普煽动性言论鼓动、声称大选被“窃取”的暴徒冲击的地方。他们的主要目标是时任副总统迈克·彭斯，他们想因彭斯拒绝阻止认证选举结果而将其“绞死”。据前顾问作证，特朗普曾说：“迈克·彭斯罪有应得。”
Most unusually, this was held inside the Rotunda of the Capitol, the very place assaulted by a mob on January 6, 2021, inspired by Trump’s seditious claims the election had been “stolen”. Their chief target was then vice-president Mike Pence, whom they wanted to “hang” for refusing to stop the certification of the result. “Mike Pence deserves it,” Trump said, according to testimony from former advisers.
正如在乌克兰问题上一样，一旦特朗普似乎注定重返总统宝座，资深共和党人便来了个180度大转弯。值得注意的是，长期担任参议院共和党领袖的米奇·麦康奈尔曾对采访者表示：“煽动叛乱并导致民众冲击国会大厦……这简直就是你能想象到的最接近可弹劾罪行的行为，除非可能是充当另一个国家的代理人。”事实上，特朗普并非莫斯科的地下特工——那样的人会隐蔽得多。关键在于，麦康奈尔随后决定不投票支持弹劾，此后表现得像所谓的“荣誉议员”林赛·格雷厄姆一样卑躬屈膝。
As with Ukraine, senior Republicans performed a 180-degree turn once Trump seemed set to return to the presidency. Notably the long-serving Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, who had told an interviewer: “Urging an insurrection and people attacking the Capitol as a direct result… is about as close to an impeachable offence as you can imagine, with the possible exception of maybe being an agent for another country.”Actually, Trump is not an undercover agent for Moscow – such a person would be much less obvious. The point is, McConnell then decided not to vote for impeachment and thereafter was as servile as the supposedly honourable Lindsey Graham.
这种行为有着非常人性化的原因：渴望亲近权力，恐惧特朗普非凡的报复能力。两者兼而有之的可能性很大。无论哪种情况，从某种意义上说，这些人比特朗普更可耻。他们明知是非曲直。然而总统并非伪君子，因为他是个道德白痴。
There are very human reasons for such behaviour. Lust for proximity to power. Fear of Trump’s remarkable capacity for vengeance. Probably both. Whatever the case, such people are in one sense more shameful than Trump. They do know the difference between right and wrong. The president, however, is no hypocrite, being a moral imbecile.
如果共和党在下个月的选举中惨败，将导致特朗普表现得更加荒诞怪诞——而那些明知故犯的人将继续卑躬屈膝地阿谀奉承。
A trouncing of the Republicans in next month’s elections will be followed by Trump behaving even more grotesquely – to the continued abject sycophancy of those who know better.