本周前几天非常反常，特朗普总统没有公开承认共和党在中期选举中遭遇的惨败。相反，选举次日，他带记者们突击参观了正在建设中的白宫舞厅，仅简短回答了一个与选举相关的问题，即关于副总统万斯断言伊朗战争损害了共和党在中期选举中的表现。总统回应说：“我认为这在很大程度上是真的，因为它在短期内推高了汽油价格”，并补充道：“与此同时，如果让我重来一次，我还得这么做，因为从长远来看这是唯一的答案。你不能让伊朗拥有核武器。”
For a few very strange days this week, President Trump didn’t publicly acknowledge the Republican Party’s catastrophic losses in the midterm elections. Instead, the day after the election, he took journalists on a surprise tour of his under-construction White House ballroom where he only briefly answered an election-related question, about Vice President JD Vance’s assertion that the Iran war had hurt Republicans in the midterms. (“I think it’s largely true because it drove the gasoline up a little bit short term,” the president responded, adding: “At the same time, if I had it to do again, I’d have to do it again because long-term it’s the only answer. You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”)
但直到这个周末，特朗普基本上一直避免对共和党惨淡的选举结果做出反应，转而专注于在“真相社交”上抱怨夏令时等“重要事务”：“外面这么黑，这么早（日落是下午5点06分，5点31分就黑了——这难道不荒谬吗？”然而现在，有迹象表明总统已经走出了悲伤过程的否认阶段，进入了愤怒阶段。首先是他宣布任命斯蒂芬·米勒——一名反移民极端分子，也是他最有毒、最令人厌恶的顾问——为新任幕僚长。周末期间，特朗普在“真相社交”上发布了一系列帖子，似乎在尝试各种对选举的回应，看看哪种能站得住脚。
But until this weekend, Trump had largely stayed away from reacting to the dismal GOP results, confining himself instead to important matters like complaining on TruthSocial about daylight saving time: “It’s so dark outside, so early (Sunset was 5:06 P.M., and it was dark by 5:31 P.M. — Isn’t that ridiculous?” Now, however, there are signs that the president has exited the denial phase of the grieving process and entered the anger stage. First came his announcement that he’d tapped Stephen Miller, an anti-immigration extremist and the most noxious and widely disliked of his advisors, as his new chief of staff. And over the weekend, Trump has made a litany of posts on TruthSocial in which he seems to be trying out various responses to the election, to see what might stick.
周六，特朗普转发了多条帖子和图表，声称全国范围内民主党的胜利存在欺诈，其中包括一条虚假声称“民主党凭空变出了2000万张新选票”的帖子。他还要求司法部调查他所称的民主党“针对无辜的共和党捐助者和党员发出威胁”，并补充道：“参议院必须采取行动，别再任人摆布，以致共和党输掉选举，甚至更糟！”他还转发了多条反对弹劾国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯呼吁的帖子，据报道，他在一段将于周日播出的《60分钟》采访中表示，虽然他将做出“少量调整”，但解雇赫格塞斯不会是其中之一。
On Saturday, Trump reposted several posts and graphs alleging that the Democratic wins across the country had been fraudulent, including one that falsely claimed, “Democrats materialized 20 million new votes.”He also demanded a Justice Department investigation into what he claimed were threats being made by the Democratic party “against innocent Republican Donors and Party Members,” adding, “The Senate must act, and stop being pushed around to the point of the Republican Party losing Elections, and Worse!”He also reposted several posts pushing back against calls for the impeachment of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and reportedly told 60 Minutes, in an interview that will air on Sunday, that while he’ll be making a “few changes,” firing Hegseth won’t be one of them.
显然渴望关注，特朗普还试图通过另一个令人震惊的任命制造轰动，声称他已向UFC首席执行官达纳·怀特提供白宫新闻秘书一职，并称他为“一名暴力的斗士和战士”。他还坚持要求怀特带上各种UFC斗士。“我们需要这些人来保卫我们，对抗疯狂的左派，”特朗普写道。据CNN报道，怀特迅速拒绝了该职位提议。但周日早晨，特朗普分享了一张AI生成的漫画，画面显示怀特和多名UFC斗士在白宫新闻发布室殴打记者，据报道怀特将于周一与特朗普会面，讨论这一潜在职位。
Apparently hungry for attention, Trump also tried to make a splash with another shock appointment, claiming that he’d offered the role of White House press secretary to UFC CEO Dana White, who he called “a violent Fighter and Warrior.”He further insisted White bring various UFC fighters with him. “We need these people to defend us against the Lunatic Left,” Trump wrote. According to CNN, White speedily declined the job offer. But on Sunday morning, Trump shared an AI-generated cartoon of White and various UFC fighters beating up journalists in the White House press briefing room, and the reported that White will meet with Trump on Monday to discuss the potential role.
周日早晨，特朗普抱怨称，没有他经济会遭受损失，他写道：“美国因上次大选结果在历史上倒退了一大步——即使股市在‘特朗普’治下一直是‘火箭’般上涨，也在一天内损失了3万亿美元。但不必担心，我们将卷土重来，比以往任何时候都更强大！”所有这些至少在短期内，让特朗普获得了他似乎总是渴望的震惊和关注。
On Sunday morning, Trump complained that the economy would suffer without him, writing, “America took a giant step back in History with the results of the last Election — Even the Stock Market, which has been a ‘ROCKETSHIP’ under ‘TRUMP,’ took a one day, 3 Trillion Dollar loss. But have no fear, we will be back, BIGGER AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!”All of this served, at least in the short term, to get Trump the shock and attention he always seems to crave.
但也很明显，他真正想要的是认可。在宣布接受采访时，他写道：“希望他们能展示我们过去两年做的所有好事，甚至不包括第一任期，那简直不可思议。如果我们得到共和党参议院的帮助，我们仍能做出令人难以置信的事情！”毫无疑问，特朗普在离任前很可能还会做几件更多“令人难以置信”的事，但更多伤害他自尊的侮辱恐怕也在路上了。
But it was also clear that what he was really wants is validation. In announcing his interview, he wrote, “Hopefully, they will show all the good things we’ve done over the past 2 years, not even including the First Term, which was incredible. If we get help from the Republican Senate, we can still do things that are unbelievable!”While there’s no doubt that Trump will likely do several more “unbelievable” things before leaving office, more insults for his ego are likely on the way.
正如美国公共电视网（PBS）近日报道的那样，他的几个有争议的宠儿项目，包括舞厅、他巨大的凯旋门、拟建的“美国英雄国家花园”以及改造东波托马克高尔夫球场的计划，当民主党控制众议院、参议院和拨款流程时，将很快面临风险。
As PBS recently reported, several of his controversial pet projects, including the ballroom, his gigantic triumphal arch, a proposed “National Garden of American Heroes” and a plan to remake a golf course in East Potomac will all soon be at risk, when Democrats take control of the House, Senate, and the appropriations process needed to fund them.