当美国总统唐纳德·特朗普将中东变成战区而引发世界动荡时，他以为地理位置能提供一层缓冲。他可能没有意识到石油之火蔓延得有多快，以及一个消费主义社会会因高昂的生活成本而惩罚他。
When US President Donald Trump set the world on fire by turning the Middle East into a war zone, he thought geography would provide a buffer. He probably didn't realise how fast petroleum fires spread, and that a consumerist society would punish him for the high cost of living.
在20世纪30年代俄克拉何马州的一名超市老板发明购物车之前，人们只能买手里拿得下东西。一辆大多装得满满当当的购物车在商店的过道里被推来推去，已经成了美国的象征。如果说美国社会有什么一成不变的东西，那就是消费主义。
Before the shopping cart was invented in Oklahoma in the 1930s by a supermarket owner, people could shop only what they could carry in their hands. A cart, mostly full, being rolled through the alleys of a store, has become a symbol of America. If there's one constant in American society, it's consumerism.
福特汽车预示着宽阔的高速公路、沿途的加油站和汽车旅馆的出现，并助长了“先买后付”的文化。美国的整个生态系统都是围绕着消费建立的。人们无需环顾麦当劳的金拱门或一次性咖啡杯之外的事物。还有分量。在美国，食物的分量要大得多（有时是两倍），相比于欧洲和亚洲各地供应的分量。
The Ford heralded the wide highways, the gas stations and motels along them, and boosted the 'buy-now, pay-later' culture. Entire ecosystems in the US have been built around consumption. One doesn't need to look beyond the Golden Arches of McDonald's or the disposable coffee cups. And the portion sizes. They are much larger (at times double) in the US, compared to what's served across Europe and Asia.
美国人被消费主义所吞噬，个人消费占美国经济活动总额的70%。因此，当这种文化被高昂的生活成本打乱时，美国人是不会善罢甘休的。而这正是因果报应回来反噬唐纳德·特朗普总统的地方。
Americans are consumed by consumerism and personal consumption accounts for 70% of the total economic activity in the US. So, when that culture is disrupted by a high cost of living, Americans won't take it kindly. And that's where karma has returned to bite President Donald Trump.
中东作为世界的能源枢纽，自2月28日美国和伊朗开战并消灭其最高领导层以来，一直处于战火之中。伊朗将矛头对准了邻国的石油资产，并对作为能源贸易战略通道的霍尔木兹海峡实施了封锁。
The Middle East, the energy hub of the world, has been in flames since the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, and took out its top leadership. Iran has targeted the oil assets of neighbouring countries and imposed a blockade of the Gulf of Hormuz, a strategic passage for energy trade.
这种中断正在世界另一端引发局势爆发。孟加拉国成衣行业工人的大规模抗议活动，正因卡塔尔液化天然气作为燃料而面临高昂的价格。特朗普以为美国与伊朗的地理距离会起到缓冲作用，但他没有意识到石油大火蔓延得有多快。
The disruption is resulting in flare-ups half-way across the world. The massive protests by workers of the ready-made garments industry in Bangladesh have high prices for Qatar LNG as the fuel. Trump thought America's geographical distance from Iran would act as a buffer, but he didn't realise how fast petroleum fires spread.
在伊朗战争爆发前约为每桶70美元的布伦特原油，在4月份突破125美元后，目前交投于105美元。美国加油站的汽油价格上涨了40%，而柴油则飙升了60%至70%。美国人无论去上班还是度假到处都开车，其90%的货物都是由柴油卡车运输的。
A barrel of Brent Crude Oil that was around $70 before the Iran war is now at $105, after breaching $125 in April. Gasoline (petrol) prices at American pumps have risen by 40%, while diesel has surged by 60-70%. Americans drive everywhere, from their work to their holidays, and 90% of their goods are moved by diesel-fed trucks.
“伊朗战争至少是过去二十年来最大的政治失误。一个灾难性愚蠢的决定。是对‘美国优先’原则不可饶恕的背叛，”作家兼极右翼评论员马特·沃尔什在谈到特朗普时写道。特朗普曾承诺将美国从所有战争中解脱出来，却将其拖入了一场永无止境的战争。美国是带头大哥，而特朗普一直是全世界的麻烦制造者。
"The Iran War is the greatest political blunder in the last two decades at least. A catastrophically stupid decision. An unforgivable betrayal of America First principles," wrote author and far-right commentator Matt Walsh on Trump, who promised to extricate the US from all wars, plunged it into a never-ending war. The US is the big daddy and Trump has been the PITA (pain in the as*) for the world.
民主党通过翻转传统的红州夺回了对国会的控制权，其中期选举展现了对共和党、尤其是对特朗普根深蒂固的愤怒。
The midterm elections in which the Democrats have taken control of the Congress by flipping traditionally red states, show deep-seated anger against Republicans, particularly against Trump.
堪萨斯州自1932年以来首次选出了民主党参议员。长期作为共和党堡垒的得克萨斯州，选出了民主党籍的参议员和州长。俄亥俄州和艾奥瓦州这两个特朗普在2024年轻松拿下的州，今年也向民主党靠拢。
Kansas elected a Democratic senator for the first time since 1932. Texas, a long-standing Republican stronghold, elected Democrats to both the Senate and the state's governor's office. Ohio and Iowa, two states Trump won comfortably in 2024, also swung towards the Democrats this year.
高昂的生活成本在法国、德国、西班牙和瑞士等几个国家引发了抗议。在美国，人们没有走上街头，而是带着复仇的心态涌入了摇摆州的投票站。
The high cost of living has triggered protests across France, Germany, Spain and Switzerland among several other countries. In the US, the people didn't take to the streets, they took to the polling stations in battleground states with vengeance.
美国的通货膨胀率以消费者价格指数（CPI）衡量，从伊朗战争爆发前的2月时的2.4%，攀升至4月时的3.8%和9月时的3.7%。这必然对美国人的购物车和心理造成了打击。
Inflation in the US, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) climbed from 2.4% in February, right before the Iran war, to 3.8% in April and 3.7% in September. And that must have dealt a blow to the shopping cart and psychology of Americans.
路透社与益普索的一项民意调查发现，生活成本上升是48%的登记选民最关心的问题。约有49%的美国人认为，自从特朗普于2025年1月重返白宫以来，他们的家庭财务状况恶化了。“他们认为选票是对特朗普的一张反对票，”路透社在与已经投票或即将投票的人交谈后于11月3日报道称。
A Reuters/Ipsos poll found the rising cost of living was the top issue for 48% of registered voters. Some 49% of Americans believed their household finances have got worse since Trump was returned to the White House in January 2025. "They thought of their ballots as a vote against Trump," reported Reuters on November 3, after speaking to people who had already voted or were going to vote.
各国日益变得闭关自守，但世界仍然相互依存。多米诺骨牌将会倒下。特朗普表示，法国发生抗议活动是因为它已被“移民、圣战分子和共产主义者征服、劫掠并烧为平地”。由特朗普对伊朗的战争恶化且超出了政府控制的生活成本上升，也是引发骚乱的罪魁祸首。美国过去和现在都未能幸免，因果报应已经回来反噬特朗普。有人在X平台上精辟地总结道：“特朗普在伊朗之前先在得克萨斯州实现了政权更迭。”
Countries have increasingly become inward-looking, but the world is still interconnected. The dominoes will fall. Trump said the protests took place in France because it had been "conquered, looted, and burned to the ground by migrants, jihadists, and communists." The rising cost of living, worsened by Trump's war on Iran, and beyond the control of governments, was also to blame for the rioting. The US wasn't and hasn't been immune, and karma has returned to bite Trump. Someone summed it up well on X, "Trump got a regime change in Texas before Iran".