白宫新任幕僚长斯蒂芬·米勒上周五对特朗普总统赞不绝口。米勒称赞他的老板“将共和党从历史的灰烬中拯救出来”，并“使其比以往任何时候都更强大、更受欢迎、更有韧性”。再说一遍？共和党刚刚失去了七个、可能是八个、甚至九个参议院席位，至少44个众议院席位，以及五到七个州长职位。米勒的言论让许多共和党人感到困惑，可能还激怒了一些人。也许他觉得自己不得不奉承特朗普。更糟的是——而且这确实有可能——他和总统真的相信了这番话。
The new White House chief of staff, Stephen Miller, was full of praise for President Trump last Friday. Mr. Miller credited his boss with having “saved the Republican Party from the ash heap of history” and “made it stronger, more popular, and more resilient than ever before.”Come again? The GOP has just lost seven, probably eight and maybe nine Senate seats, at least 44 House seats, and five to seven governorships. Mr. Miller’s comments baffled many Republicans and probably angered some. Perhaps he felt he had to flatter Mr. Trump. Worse—and a real possibility—is that he and the president actually believe it.
米勒的崛起表明，白宫将大力对抗国会民主党人明年1月发起的调查。他就是总统想要的那个单枪匹马的作战室。
Mr. Miller’s rise signals that the White House will fight hard against the investigations congressional Democrats will launch in January. He’s the one-man war room the president wants.
监督听证会可能会在两个方面进一步损害政府的声誉：腐败和移民执法。对贪污和以权谋私的调查可能会造成伤害。关于政府不再只针对暴力犯罪外国人、而是派遣训练不足的武装移民和海关执法局探员去追捕建筑工人、服务员和农场工人的听证会，同样可能造成伤害。他们的孩子也被一并带走的画面让共和党付出了代价，尤其是在郊区选民中。
Oversight hearings could further damage the administration’s reputation on two fronts: corruption and immigration enforcement. Investigations into grift and self-dealing could hurt. So could hearings on the administration’s moving beyond targeting violent criminal aliens by sending poorly trained, armed ICE agents after construction workers, waiters and farmhands. Images of their children being swept up too cost the GOP, especially with suburban voters.
不过，如果民主党做得太过火，他们也可能伤害自己，就像共和党人在1990年代因比尔·克林顿总统与莫妮卡·莱温斯基的绯闻而追究他那样。美国人对这种做法越来越反感，认为共和党在国会的多数派有更重要的职责。
Still, Democrats could damage themselves if they go overboard, as Republicans did in pursuing President Bill Clinton over his affair with Monica Lewinsky in the 1990s. Americans grew sick of it, believing the GOP congressional majority had more important responsibilities.
但共和党不能只是坐等民主党失足。要恢复在选民中的地位，他们必须主动出击，不仅要反对民主党的糟糕法案，还要提出自己的保守派议程。白宫已表示将通过一系列行政措施来做到这一点。这对国会共和党人来说还不够。如果他们唯命是从、等待西翼发号施令，那他们就犯错了。
But Republicans can’t simply wait for Democrats to stumble. To recover their standing with voters, they have to go on offense, not only opposing the Democrats’ bad bills but offering a conservative agenda of their own. The White House has signaled it will do so with a wave of executive actions. That isn’t enough for congressional Republicans. They’ll make a mistake if they play follow-the-leader and wait for direction from the West Wing.
毕竟，正是这些“天才”，他们降低生活成本的主要主张，是承诺如果共和党赢得中期选举，就给每个成年人发一张5000美元的支票。况且，法院已经推翻了本届政府的许多行政措施。而特朗普的任期只剩两年。在这段时间里，他不太可能变得更受欢迎。如果华盛顿和各州的共和党官员想要重拾影响力、保住职位，最好开始采取行动赢回选民的信任。国会共和党人需要一套积极而有说服力的自身议程。各州的共和党同僚也是如此。
After all, those are the same geniuses whose principal idea for lowering the cost of living was to promise every adult a $5,000 check if Republicans won the midterms. Besides, the courts have struck down many of the administration’s executive actions. And Mr. Trump has only two years left in office. He’s unlikely to grow more popular in that time. If Republican officeholders in Washington and the states want to restore their relevance and stay in office, they’d better start doing what it takes to win back voters’ trust. Congressional Republicans need a positive, compelling agenda of their own. So do their counterparts in the states.
民主党将在国会占据多数，但他们也处境艰难。他们在竞选期间不断高喊“可负担性”，却没有让选民对他们的解决方案有多少了解。他们有“让钱更多地留在口袋里”之类的口号，但除此之外就没有太多内容了。
Democrats will be in the majority in Congress, but they’re also in a pickle. They constantly shouted “affordability” during the campaign but didn’t give voters much of an idea of their solutions. They had slogans like “more money in the pocket,” but not much beyond that.
民主党还大谈“劳动人民”。这并不是因为民主党有帮助他们的一套具体议程，而是为了凸显特朗普在生活成本问题上无所作为，以及他一心想着耗资昂贵的翻修计划。
Democrats also talked a lot about “working people.”That wasn’t because Democrats had a concrete agenda to help them. It was to highlight Mr. Trump’s inaction on the cost of living and his preoccupation with expensive remodeling plans.
共和党人必须恢复一个被忽视的政治习惯：把治理当作严肃的工作，而不是表演艺术。他们应当提出方案，降低生活成本、让医疗更可负担、扩大住房供应、减轻联邦监管负担，并削减浪费性和欺诈性支出。大多数美国人仍然本能地明白，通货膨胀源于过多的货币追逐过少的商品，而浪费性支出正是这一等式的一部分。
Republicans must recover a neglected political habit: treating governing as serious work rather than performance art. They should offer proposals to lower costs, make healthcare more affordable, expand the housing supply, ease the federal regulatory burden, and cut wasteful and fraudulent spending. Most Americans still instinctively understand that inflation comes from too much money chasing too few goods, and wasteful spending is part of that equation.
即使共和党的主张在民主党占压倒性多数的国会中几乎没有通过的机会，共和党人也必须这样做。比说服民主党参议员和众议员更重要的，是共和党人必须再次让选民相信，共和党对美国未来有正确的答案。
Republicans must do this even if their ideas have little chance of passage by the lopsided Democratic congressional majorities. More important than persuading Democratic senators and representatives, Republicans must again convince voters the GOP has the right answers for America’s future.
否则，共和党在野的时间可能会长得多，对我们国家造成的损害也会大得多，尤其是如果左派主导了民主党的议程。
Failing that, the Republican Party’s time in the wilderness could last far longer and the damage to our country be far greater, especially if the left dictates the Democratic agenda.
共和党不能回到过去某个光明的时代。它必须为未来规划一条路线。共和党人应当借助永恒的保守主义原则来应对美国的挑战。正如林肯所说：“既然我们的处境是新的，我们的思想也必须更新，行动也必须更新。”林肯所属的政党应当听取这一睿智的建议。
The GOP can’t return to some past bright era. It has to chart a course for the future. Republicans should draw on timeless conservative principles to meet America’s challenges. As Lincoln said, “as our case is new, so must we think anew, and act anew.”The party of Lincoln should heed this sage advice.
罗夫先生曾任乔治·W·布什总统的高级顾问和副幕僚长，著有《威廉·麦金利的胜利》（西蒙与舒斯特出版社，2015年）。
Mr. Rove was senior adviser and deputy chief of staff for President George W. Bush and is author of “The Triumph of William McKinley” (Simon & Schuster, 2015).