前总统拜登将出版新书《Promise Me, America》。这是他的卸任后回忆录，我相信大家都想听他亲口讲述退出2024年总统竞选的决定。但值得注意的是，我们不会听到他本人的声音。根据他在社交媒体上发布的声明，拜登无法为这本书的音频版配音，而且他将出席的活动将远少于原计划。他写道：“写这本书期间，我被诊断出患有癌症，这是数百万美国人及其家庭再熟悉不过的疾病。我的医生对我治疗的反应持续感到鼓舞。你们这么多人的祈祷、善意的话语和美好祝愿，对我和吉尔以及我们全家的意义，超出你们的想象。”
Former President Biden is releasing a new book called “Promise Me, America.”It’s his post-presidential memoir, and I’m sure everyone is looking to hear about his decision to quit the 2024 presidential race in his own words. But notably, we will not be hearing this in his own voice. Biden was unable to narrate the audio version of the book, and he’s going to be doing far fewer events than he had planned, according to an announcement he made on social media. He wrote: “While writing the book, I was diagnosed with cancer, a disease known all too well to millions of Americans and their families. My doctors continue to be encouraged by how I've responded to treatment. And the prayers and kind words and well wishes from so many of you have meant more to me and Jill and our family than you can ever know.”
“有些日子好一些，有些日子差一些，”他继续写道。“它没有让我停下。但有时它会让我慢下来。这意味着，遗憾的是，我无法像我原本希望的那样，就我的书进行那么多次对话。不过，我希望书页上的文字本身能说明一切。”我祝愿拜登一切安好，所有美国人也应当如此。我希望他完全康复。癌症是一种可怕的疾病，和大多数人一样，我知道有亲人因它离世。
“Some days are better than others,” he continues. “It hasn't stopped me. But sometimes it slows me down. What that means is, unfortunately, I won’t be able to do as many conversations about my book as I’d hoped. However, I’m hopeful the words on the page speak for themselves.”I wish Biden well, and so should all Americans. I hope he makes a full recovery. Cancer is a terrible illness, and like most people, I know loved ones who have succumbed to it.
但我忍不住要再次指出这一点：眼下唐纳德·特朗普的第二个任期已经过半，而这个任期本是拜登想要担任的。如果他的团队成功掩盖了他日益恶化的健康状况，如果他赢了大选，他现在就会是总统。当然，现实中无法想象他在这种状态下真正履行总统职务，因此卡玛拉·哈里斯到现在应该已经接任了。拜登的团队坚称，他直到大选很久之后才发现自己患癌。也许这是真的。
But I can’t help but point this out again: Right now we are halfway through Donald Trump’s second term, a term that Biden had sought to serve. Had his team successfully covered up his failing health situation, and had he won the election, he would be president right now. In reality, of course, it’s impossible to imagine him actually serving as president in such a state, and so Kamala Harris would have taken over by now. Biden’s team maintains that he did not find out about the cancer until well after the election. Maybe that’s true.
但是，所有在拜登总统任期的最后一年近距离见过他的人都应该知道，这个人已经太老了，不适合当总统，更不用说再干四年了——年龄已经追上了他，并且正在影响他的心智能力和沟通能力。他不再与内阁会面，在活动中走神，需要在捐赠者会议的地面上贴胶带作为箭头来引导他走动。而现在，根据亚历克斯·汤普森和凯特·塔珀在新书《原罪》中披露的新细节，2024年，拜登似乎忘记了他的老参议院同事鲍勃·多尔几年前已经去世。
But everybody who saw Biden up close in the final year of his presidency should have known that this man was too old to be president, let alone for another four years — that age had caught up with him, and was impacting his mental faculties and his communicative abilities. He had stopped meeting with his Cabinet, wandered off during events, needed tape on the ground to serve as arrows directing him around donor meetings. And now, according to new details from Alex Thompson and Kate Tapper in their book, “Original Sin,” in 2024, Biden appeared to forget that his old Senate colleague Bob Dole had died several years before.
他似乎还认为自己的儿子博仍然活着，正在与自己的癌症诊断作斗争。那可是2024年。在X上，拜登的支持者抱怨汤普森和塔珀仍在追查拜登体弱多病的真相，这促使乔什·巴罗打趣道：“拜登‘被允许’做任何他想做的事。只是值得注意的是，拜登还想再次成为民主党提名人，而他甚至连自己的有声书都无法朗读。”是啊，问题就在这里。
He also seemed to think his son Beau was still alive, fighting his own cancer diagnosis. In 2024. On X, Biden boosters complain that Thompson and Tapper were still pursuing the truth about Biden’s infirmity, prompting Josh Barro to quip: “Biden is ‘allowed’ to do whatever he wants. It’s just notable that Biden wanted to be the Democratic nominee again when he lacks the capacity even to narrate his own audiobook.”Yeah, that’s the problem.
我们现在正生活在假设中的拜登第二任期里，而我们正看到他状况有多糟糕。我认为这对他来说是悲哀的，但这凸显了他的整个团队在向我们——向美国人民——隐瞒他时，行为有多么应受谴责，目的是维护他能再干四年的谎言。我们不能忘记这一点。这真可谓一个“大谎言”！罗比·索阿韦是《国会山报》评论节目《崛起》的联合主持人，也是《理性》杂志的高级编辑。本专栏是他每日评论的编辑转录。
We are now living through the hypothetical Biden second term, and we are seeing just how badly off he is. I think that’s sad for him, but it underscores just how reprehensibly his whole team acted in concealing him from us — from the American people — in order protect the lie that he could serve for another four years. And we can’t forget it. Talk about a Big Lie! Robby Soave is co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising” and a senior editor for Reason Magazine. This column is an edited transcription of his daily commentary.