当高层领导人宣扬乐观时，普通共和党议员正在酝酿一场争夺少数党领袖职位的恶劣竞争。
As top leaders preach optimism, rank-and-file Republicans contemplate a nasty race for minority leader.
南卡罗来纳州默特尔比奇——唐纳德·特朗普面临就任总统以来最差的支持率，深红选区的共和党候选人正四处寻找政治庇护，而吉姆·乔丹希望众议院共和党同僚知道，他来提供帮助了。
MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina — Donald Trump is facing his worst-ever approval ratings as president, GOP candidates in deep-red districts are scrambling for political cover, and Jim Jordan would like his fellow House Republicans to know he’s here to help.
“我们在帮助任何人、所有人，”这位资深俄亥俄州议员在南卡罗来纳州一次动员选民集会的间隙接受采访时表示，这个向来倾向共和党的州突然成了中期选举的战场。
“We are helping anybody, everybody,” the veteran Ohio lawmaker said in an interview on the sidelines of a get-out-the-vote rally in South Carolina, a typically red state that is suddenly a midterm battleground.
乔丹补充道：“共和党人之间的分歧‘与共和党人和控制另一个党的激进分子之间的分歧相比，非常非常小’，所以让我们团结在一起。” 对外人来说，这听起来可能像是一般的竞选场面客套话。但对乔丹的同僚而言，他的言论实质上放弃了曾让他成为原始MAGA明星的派系斗争，这象征着一场暗中进行的选举较量正悄然展开——目标是领导预计将缩水的众议院共和党会议。
The differences between Republicans “are pretty darn small compared to the differences in Republicans and the radicals who control the other party,” Jordan added, “so let’s stick together.”To the outside ear, that might sound like generic campaign-trail hokum. But to Jordan’s colleagues, his comments essentially renouncing the factional warfare that made him a proto-MAGA star is emblematic of the shadow election battle that is now quietly underway — to lead what is expected to be a diminished House Republican Conference.