美国建国先贤们算是报了一箭之仇。美国民主制度将重新按其初衷运作。总统权力将受到立法机构的制衡。精心设计、旨在防止行政或立法部门专制的制衡体制将重新生效。11月3日周二的中期选举，标志着唐纳德·特朗普那种凯撒式总统统治的终结。
The Founding Fathers have had their revenge. The institutions of American democracy will go back to functioning as they intended. Presidential power will be checked by the legislative bodies. The system of checks and balances – carefully designed to prevent tyranny by either the executive or the legislature – will be back in commission. The midterm elections on Tuesday, November 3, signaled the end of the Caesar-like presidency of Donald Trump.
过去两年里，国会在华盛顿实际上已不复存在。在参众两院，共和党多数派均向白宫投降。除极少数例外，总统所属党派的参众议员放弃了其职责的核心：对白宫实施监督，而非盲目支持。以确保总统依法行事，并阻止任何向威权主义滑落的趋势。
For the past two years, Congress had effectively ceased to exist in Washington. In both the Senate and the House of Representatives, the Republican majority had capitulated to the White House. With rare exceptions, senators and representatives from the president's party surrendered the core responsibility of their office: to provide oversight, not just blind support, to the White House. To ensure that the president acted within the law and to stop any drift towards authoritarianism.
但在一个心胸狭窄、掌握其竞选资金命脉的特朗普的“魔咒”——甚至威胁——下，共和党议员沦为一群驯顺、顺从的帮派。他们赞同这位每天在椭圆形办公室“举朝” 的自恋导师的一切要求。代价高昂的任性妄为、屡次违法和无视法院判决、任人唯亲以及个人和家族敛财、拒不履行国家签署的条约并背叛盟友、与弗拉基米尔·普京关系亲密以及削弱国会特权——尤其是征收关税的权力。唐纳德国王无人需负责，因为议会多数派中无人敢追究其责任。
But under the spell – or even the threat – of a vengeful Trump, who controlled the funding for their election campaigns, Republican lawmakers became a docile, submissive bloc. They endorsed everything this narcissistic guru, who held court daily in the Oval Office, demanded. Costly whims and repeated violations of law and court decisions, nepotism and personal and family enrichment, rejection of treaties signed by the country and betrayal of its allies, cozying up to Vladimir Putin and undermining Congress's prerogatives – especially the power to impose tariffs. King Donald had no one to answer to, since no one in the parliamentary majority dared to hold him to account.
那个时代已经结束。由民主党在众议院和参议院均占据多数席位的第120届美国国会将于2027年1月3日召开，这将恢复制度平衡。这标志着回归建国先贤设想的体制：在国会与总统之间，谈判是常态——一种混合安排，兼具总统制与议会制特征。两极分化的党派斗争时代已成过去；两党组成的复合多数派或许能再次立法。
That era is over. Dominated in both the House and the Senate by a Democratic majority, the 120th United States Congress, which will convene on January 3, 2027, will restore institutional balance. This marks a return to the system envisioned by the Founding Fathers: between Congress and the president, negotiation is the rule – a hybrid arrangement, part presidential, part parliamentary. The days of polarizing partisanship are over; bipartisan, composite majorities may once again legislate.