唐纳德·特朗普总统决定任命强硬派忠诚者斯蒂芬·米勒为其首席幕僚长，这证实了许多共和党人私下里已经担心的事情：共和党不会就本周中期选举的惨败进行全党范围的反省。
President Donald Trump's decision to name hard-line loyalist Stephen Miller as his top aide cemented what many Republicans were already privately fearing: There will be no party-wide GOP reckoning with this week's midterm bloodbath.
相反，随着特朗普还将在任两年，大多数人已认命地接受了这样一个现实：总统将采取对抗性方式与国会打交道，且不愿改变方向。
Instead, with Trump still in office for another two years, most have grown resigned to the reality that the president is going to lean in on a confrontational approach with Congress — and is not willing to change course.
据十多位共和党议员、高级助手和特朗普政府官员透露，国会山上的共和党人和特朗普政府内部人士正在质疑他们现在如何以及能否与总统决裂，因为他们此前已为他的大部分议程背书。这些受访者因可坦率谈论党的未来而获准匿名。
Republicans on Capitol Hill and inside the Trump administration are questioning how and whether they can break with the president now after having green-lit much of his agenda, according to more than a dozen GOP lawmakers, senior aides and Trump officials interviewed for this story, some of whom were granted anonymity to speak candidly about the party’s future.
特朗普周五决定提拔米勒——这位不受欢迎的大规模驱逐政策的设计师和激烈党派对抗的鼓吹者——将这种挫败感具体化了。
Trump's decision Friday to elevate Miller, the architect of his unpopular mass deportation policy and an advocate of fierce partisan confrontation, crystallized the frustration.
“共和党需要进行一些自我反省，”众议员马林·斯图茨曼（共和党-印第安纳州）周五上午在接受采访谈及中期选举失利时表示。“白宫应该有人因我们惨败而下台。”几小时后，人头真的落地了。特朗普宣布米勒将取代苏西·怀尔斯出任新任首席幕僚长。“糟糕透顶的决定，”斯图茨曼回应道。
“There needs to be some self-reflection for Republicans,” Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) said in an interview about the midterm losses Friday morning. “There should be some heads rolling at the White House because we lost badly.”Hours later, heads did roll. Trump announced Miller would replace Susie Wiles as his new chief of staff. “Horrible decision,” Stutzman said in response.
一位众议院共和党议员在得知特朗普任命米勒为首席幕僚长后回应：“请告诉我你在骗我，只是为了博取反应。”选举后的直接后果使共和党过去十年的核心问题更加尖锐：他们难以驾驭这位他们围绕其重塑了整个党的身份认同的人，而他的创纪录低支持率助长了党内一代人的惨败。
One House Republican, when informed that Trump had named Miller his chief of staff, replied: “Please tell me you’re lying to me right now, just to get a reaction.”The immediate aftermath of the election has sharpened the GOP’s core issue for the past decade: They are struggling to navigate the man who they reshaped their entire identity around, and whose record low approval with voters helped to fuel generational losses within the party.
伊朗战争是部分共和党人感到后悔的另一个领域。副总统万斯在其选后复盘中将其认定为该党失败的主要原因。
The Iran war is another area where some Republicans are having regrets. Vice President JD Vance identified it as the main reason for the party’s defeat in his election post-mortem.
一位资深国会山共和党人表示，万斯评估的问题在于，“我们他妈的从三月份就一直在为战争投票——因为他们让我们这么投。”共和党人和特朗普顾问预计，总统将在2028年共和党初选中施加巨大影响力，这是许多人保持沉默的另一个原因。
The problem with Vance’s assessment, one senior Hill Republican said, is, “we’ve been fucking voting for the war since March — because they told us to.”Republicans and Trump advisers expect the president to wield massive influence in the 2028 GOP primaries, another reason many are staying quiet.
“一名在民主党获胜的关键州竞选中工作过的共和党操盘手说：“大家都在互相瞅着，琢磨谁会第一个站出来指责特朗普。他们和本文中的其他人一样，获准匿名发言以便坦诚相见。“但我们以前也经历过这种事。我不会抱太大希望。他目前仍然控制着该党及其初选。”白宫针对《政治报》（POLITICO）的置评请求，回应时援引了特朗普周五对米勒的赞扬。共和党全国委员会（RNC）拒绝置评。
"Everyone is staring at each other and wondering who will speak up and blame Trump first," said one GOP operative who worked on a battleground race Democrats won. They, like others in this article, were granted anonymity to speak candidly. "But we've been here before.
米勒在社交媒体上写道，他“能担任[特朗普的]白宫幕僚长，荣幸之至，难以言表”，并称“现在的使命比以往任何时候都更加明确：倾尽全力支持我们的总统。”议员们将在多大程度上与特朗普保持距离，很快就会接受考验：众议院共和党人下周将立即获得一个与特朗普及战争决裂的机会，届时众议员托马斯·马西（Thomas Massie）在接受《政治报》采访时表示，他将启动针对国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯（Pete Hegseth）的弹劾条款。
I'm not holding my breath. He still controls the party and its primaries, at least for now." The White House responded to POLITICO's request for comment by referring to Trump's praise for Miller on Friday. The RNC declined to comment. Miller wrote on social media that he is "honored beyond words to serve as [Trump's] White House Chief of Staff" and "the mission now is more clear than ever: Fight with all of our soul to support our President." How much lawmakers will distance themselves will be put to the test quickly: House Republicans will have an immediate opportunity to break with Trump and the war next week, when Rep. Thomas Massie said in an interview with POLITICO he will trigger his articles of impeachment against Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“关于赫格塞斯有很多疑问，”众议院监督委员会主席詹姆斯·科默（James Comer，共和党-肯塔基州）周五表示。
“There are a lot of questions about Hegseth,” House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said Friday.
据两位直接知情人士透露，一些资深共和党人正在私下敦促特朗普官员在投票前弃掉赫格塞斯。然而，白宫目前仍坚持支持赫格塞斯。
Some senior Republicans are privately nudging Trump officials to ditch Hegseth before the vote, according to two people with direct knowledge of the conversations. The White House is sticking by Hegseth so far, however.
众议院共和党人下周也将有机会选出新领导层，包括国家共和党国会委员会新主席。但预示着未来走向的迹象是，没有任何候选人——包括布赖恩·杰克众议员（共和党-佐治亚州）和鲁迪·亚基姆众议员（共和党-印第安纳州）——以及其他任何共和党领导层候选人公开建议采取更多行动与特朗普决裂。
House Republicans will also have a chance to elect new leadership next week, including a new chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee. But in a sign of what’s to come, none of the candidates — including Reps. Brian Jack (R-Ga.) and Rudy Yakym (R-Ind.) — nor any other GOP leadership candidates have publicly suggested doing more to break with Trump.
截至周二晚间，国会山上一小群共和党人私下宣称，“MAGA（让美国再次伟大）已结束”，是时候进行“重置”了，正如一位众议院共和党助手所言——然而，没有任何知名共和党人愿意公开表达这一观点。
A small group of Republicans on Capitol Hill have privately declared, as of Tuesday night, that “MAGA is over,” and it’s time for a “reset,” as one House GOP aide put it — and yet it’s a sentiment no prominent Republican is willing to say publicly.
克里斯·史密斯众议员（共和党-新泽西州）是众议院资历最深的议员之一，他表示不会因周二的失利去“指责”他人，这使他成为其家乡州唯一幸存的共和党现任议员。当被问及共和党是否被总统拖累时，史密斯回答：“我不想回答这个问题。”沃伦·戴维森众议员（共和党-俄亥俄州）进一步表态。他拒绝点名特朗普，但在接受采访时表示，他厌倦了共和党领导层“忽视”选民——对于一个被特朗普改造为工人阶级联盟的政党来说，这是一个引人注目的立场。
Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), one of the longest-serving members of the House, said he wasn’t going to “blame” others for Tuesday’s losses, which left him as the sole GOP incumbent survivor in his home state. Asked if Republicans were dragged down by the president, Smith replied: “I don’t want to answer that.”Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) went a step further. He declined to name Trump, but he said in an interview that he was tired of GOP leaders “ignoring” voters — a remarkable position for a party that Trump transformed into a working-class coalition.
“我们有很多共和党领导人在那里说‘一切都好’。然后你就有婴儿潮一代说，‘是啊，我那时候利率是15%，所以一切都好，’”56岁的前陆军游骑兵戴维森说。“好吧，你有很多勤奋的年轻人感到真的被忽视了，他们去投票说，‘别再忽视我们了。’”戴维森表示，共和党需要迅速开始讨论他们的问题，否则将再次承受选举后果。
"We had a lot of Republican leaders out there saying ‘everything's fine.’And you kind of had the boomer generation saying, 'Well, yeah, back in my day, interest rates were 15%, so everything's good,’” said Davidson, a 56-year-old former Army Ranger. “Well, you had a lot of hardworking young people who felt really ignored, and they they went to the polls and said, 'Stop ignoring us.'" Davidson said Republicans need to start discussing their problems quickly, or suffer the electoral consequences again.
“坏消息不会随着时间的推移而变好。所以回避谈论某事并不能解决问题，”他说。他表示，万斯周三在选举复盘中通过“坦诚”“走了一条相当好的路线”。
"Bad news doesn't get better with time. So avoiding talking about something doesn't solve the problem," he said. He said Vance “walked a pretty good line” by being “candid” in his election post-mortem Wednesday.
万斯和其他潜在的2028年总统竞选人（如参议员泰德·克鲁兹）如果想要开辟一条远离特朗普的新路径，已无多少时间可供浪费。克鲁兹发布了自己的选后总结，呼吁更多地关注选民的经济关切。佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯表示：“这次中期选举是对总统和国会的谴责。”
Vance and other potential 2028 presidential contenders like Sen. Ted Cruz don’t have much time to waste if they want to chart a new path away from Trump. Cruz issued his own post-mortem that included a call to focus more on voters’ economic concerns. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said “this midterm was a rebuke of the president and Congress.”
众议院金融服务委员会主席弗伦奇·希尔周二晚在自己这个深红的阿肯色州选区险胜一场强有力的民主党挑战，他指出“特朗普总统的不受欢迎程度”波及了“全国各地的竞选”。希尔补充道：“他将被视为跛脚鸭，这通常会让两党议员都开始关注谁将成为2028年总统大选的旗手。”大多数其他人公开保持沉默。
French Hill, the powerful Financial Services Committee Chair who narrowly survived a strong Democratic challenge in his own deep-red Arkansas seat Tuesday night, pointed to “President Trump’s unfavorability” which hit “races across the country.”Hill added: “He will be considered a lame duck, and that often has members of both political parties looking out at who will be the standard-bearers in the 2028 presidential election.”Most others have remained silent in public.
有一点是确定的：深红选区的彻底惨败，在许多国会山共和党人中激起了深深的愤怒，他们相信必须有所改变。
One thing is certain: The utter devastation in deep-red seats is stirring deep anger among many Hill Republicans, who believe something needs to change.
这正在助长特朗普政治团队内部的相互指责，指责其顾问没有认真对待关于北卡罗来纳州等州损害程度的早期预警。特朗普周五宣布，现已卸任的白宫幕僚长苏西·怀尔斯将加入他的政治团队。特朗普团队将失利归咎于“候选人素质”，而非总统本人。
It’s fueling private recriminations at Trump’s political operation that his advisers didn’t take early warnings seriously about the extent of the damage in states like North Carolina. Trump’s now-former chief of staff Susie Wiles will join his political operation, the president announced Friday. Trump's team has blamed "candidate quality" for the losses, instead of the president himself.
“候选人素质很重要。除非你竞选联邦参议员。他们显然不在乎你会不会输给一个松果，”一位众议院共和党人说道，指的是特朗普亲自挑选的北卡罗来纳州参议员提名人迈克尔·沃特利。全国共和党参议员委员会拒绝置评。
“Candidate quality matters. Unless you’re running for the U.S. Senate. They apparently don’t care if you would lose to a pinecone,” said a House Republican, referring to Trump's hand-picked North Carolina Senate nominee Michael Whatley. The National Republican Senatorial Committee declined to comment.
参议员蒂姆·斯科特（共和党-南卡罗来纳州）领导参议院竞选委员会，却在自己的州眼睁睁看着民主党翻转了一个参议院席位，他在周四没有回答记者的提问。这位南卡罗来纳州共和党人有不在走廊接受记者采访的惯例——当《政客》和其他媒体询问共和党为何惨败时，他也没有打破这一惯例。
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who leads the Senate campaign arm and saw Democrats flip a Senate seat in his own state, did not answer reporters’ questions on Thursday. The South Carolina Republican has a policy of not talking to reporters in the halls — and he didn’t start when POLITICO and others asked why Republicans lost so badly.
早在8月，一些特朗普以两位数优势获胜选区的共和党人就已告诉白宫，让总统远离他们的选区。其他人则在大规模驱逐移民和伊朗战争问题上公开与白宫决裂。
Back in August, some Republicans in seats Trump won by double digits were already telling the White House to keep the president away from their districts. Others publicly broke from the White House on mass deportations and the Iran war.
当《政治报》于9月1日在走廊采访全国共和党国会委员会（NRCC）主席理查德·哈德森时，他基本上驳回了这些担忧。
NRCC Chair Richard Hudson had largely dismissed those concerns when POLITICO asked him in a hallway interview on Sept. 1.
“根据我们的民调，总统在每个选区都是净正面资产。我一直在鼓励他走出去举办活动和集会。我将继续这样做，”哈德森说。“我认为他越多谈论自己的执政记录以及上一届国会取得的非凡成就，效果就越好。”随后，哈德森在自己的连任竞选中落败。他是历史上首位在大选中落败的NRCC主席。
“Based on our polling, the president's a net positive in every district. And I've been encouraging him to get out and do events and do rallies. I'm going to continue to do that,” Hudson said. “I think the more he talks about his record and incredible achievements he's made over the last Congress, I think the better.”Then, Hudson lost his own reelection bid. He is the first ever NRCC chair in history to be defeated in a general election.