在大选周期进入倒计时之际，JD·万斯（JD Vance）参加了福克斯新闻（Fox News）的一场黄金时段市政厅活动，这场活动平淡无奇，只有一个意外的问答环节除外。
With time running out in the election cycle, JD Vance participated in a prime-time town hall on Fox News, which was largely unremarkable except for one unexpected exchange.
一名当地大学生告诉这位副总统，右翼惯常告诫年轻人要结婚生子，但保守派却未能正视这对许多人来说在经济上有多么困难。她问道：“所以我的问题是，当美国房屋均价如今已超过41.5万美元，这对我们来说简直遥不可及，右翼和您自己指望我们如何在年轻时组建家庭？”有必要为了背景强调一下，提问者是一位自称是其所在大学“美国转折点”（Turning Point USA）分会副会长的年轻女性。也就是说，万斯面对的并非政治对手；提问者倾向于认同特朗普白宫的立场。
A local college student told the vice president that the right routinely tells young people to get married and have children but that conservatives have failed to acknowledge how financially difficult this is for many. She asked, “So my question is, how does the right, and yourself, expect us to start families young when the average price of a home in America now costs more than $415,000, which just feels out of reach for us?”It’s worth emphasizing for context that the question came from a young woman who identified herself as the vice president of her university’s Turning Point USA chapter. That is, Vance wasn’t confronting a political opponent; the question came from someone inclined to agree with the Trump White House.
俄亥俄州的这位共和党人几乎立即展现出了让他成名的那种政治直觉。
Almost immediately, the Ohio Republican demonstrated the kind of political instincts that have made him famous.
“我要指出，我想我已被问了四个或可能五个问题，按我的计数，”副总统开场说道。“我只被问过一个关于[共和党参议员]乔恩·休斯特（Jon Husted）屁股的问题——而且是[福克斯新闻主持人]杰西·沃特斯（Jesse Watters）问的。”于是，在一场全国电视转播的活动中，一位年轻保守派选民就其这一代人面临的最紧迫问题之一提出了真诚提问，万斯的第一反应却是拿一位参议员的后背开玩笑。
“I want to point out that I think that I have been asked four or maybe five questions by my count,” the vice president began. “I have only been asked one question about [Republican Sen.] Jon Husted’s ass — and it was by [Fox News’] Jesse Watters.”So, during a nationally televised event, a young conservative voter asked a sincere question about one of the most pressing issues facing her generation, and Vance’s first thought was to make a joke about a senator’s backside.
无法确切说清有多少在家收看的年轻选民被这笨拙的幽默尝试逗乐，但人数恐怕很少。当万斯真试图用实质内容回答问题时，情况只会更糟。
It’s impossible to say just how many young voters watching at home were amused by this clumsy attempt at humor, but it seems likely the number was small. It only got worse when Vance actually tried to answer the question with some substance.
“我认为我们必须正视一个事实：美国住房价格暴涨的部分原因在于，我们允许2000万非法移民进入我国，购买本应属于美国公民的住房，”这位副总统辩称。
“I think we have to take stock of the fact that the reason why housing exploded in the United States of America is in part because we allowed 20 million illegal aliens into our country to buy homes that ought, by right, go to American citizens,” the vice president argued.
只不过这种说法荒谬至极。万斯的统计数据被严重夸大，与实际数据完全不符——认为2000万无证移民有财力买下美国房地产的想法简直荒唐。（去年秋天，他同样向福克斯新闻抱怨过从其他国家输入“越来越多的低薪佣人”。至于“低薪佣人”如何买得起房，从来没有人说清楚过。）这位副总统接着说道：“这个国家住房变得过于昂贵的另一个原因，是我们允许华尔街和外国投资者大量购入住房。”
Except that’s absurd. Vance’s statistic is wildly inflated and totally at odds with actual data — the idea that 20 million undocumented immigrants have the resources to buy up American real estate is nonsensical. (Last fall, he similarly complained to Fox News about importing “more and more low-wage servants” from other countries. How “low-wage servants” can afford to purchase homes has never been clear.) The vice president went on to say, “Another reason why housing got too expensive in this country is because we allowed homes to be bought up by Wall Street and foreign investors.”
与他回答的其余部分不同，这一点实际上有些道理，尽管它触及了一个万斯忘了提及的问题：国会今年早些时候通过了一项两党住房法案，正是为了解决他所提到的这个问题。然而，唐纳德·特朗普总统拒绝签署该法案，以此发泄对他想要却得不到的一项压制选民提案的不满。（所幸，该住房法案最终还是成为了法律。）
Unlike the rest of his response, this actually made some sense, although it touched on a problem Vance neglected to mention: Congress approved a bipartisan housing bill earlier this year that was designed to address the very problem he referenced. President Donald Trump, however, refused to sign it as part of a tantrum over a voter suppression proposal that he wanted but couldn’t have. (The housing bill, thankfully, became law anyway.)
这次交锋本不必让副总统在政治上如此难堪，但他那从不失手的政治本能最终还是占了上风。
This exchange didn’t have to be so politically messy for the vice president, but his unerring political instincts won out in the end anyway.