在政治言论可能变得相当激烈的时代，听到美国知名领导人用“恐怖分子”这样的词批评其他官员仍然不寻常。但就在2021年，前共和党众议院议长约翰·博纳还是把共和党众议员乔丹称为政治“恐怖分子”。
In an era in which political rhetoric can get quite heated, it’s still unusual to hear prominent American leaders use words like “terrorist” to criticize other officials. But as recently as 2021, former Republican House Speaker John Boehner nevertheless described Republican Rep. Jordan as a political “terrorist.”
博纳在谈到这位俄亥俄州同乡时还说：“我从没见过一个人花这么多时间拆东西，从不建设任何东西，从不把任何东西拼凑起来。”我长期以来一直说乔丹是国会最糟糕的议员，理由不胜枚举。从他在俄亥俄州立大学的丑闻到他的阴谋论，从他失败且毫无意义的调查到这样一个事实——尽管他在国会山待了近20年，却从未真正通过一项法案，从他对治理的完全漠不关心到他在福克斯新闻上频繁露面，乔丹是一个格外令人反感的政治人物。
Boehner added, in reference to his fellow Ohioan, “I just never saw a guy who spent more time tearing things apart, never building anything, never putting anything together.”There’s no shortage of reasons why I’ve long described Jordan as Congress’ worst member. From his Ohio State scandal to his conspiracy theories, from his failed and pointless investigations to the fact that he’s quite literally never passed a bill despite having been on Capitol Hill for nearly 20 years, from his total indifference toward governing to his obsessive appearances on Fox News, Jordan is a uniquely odious political figure.
尽管如此，众议院共和党人还是轻松选举他担任下一任众议院少数党领袖。
He was nevertheless easily elected by House Republicans to serve as the next House minority leader.
要理解为什么这是一个如此严重的错误，不妨看看乔丹与1月6日事件有关的记录。
To appreciate why this is such a dramatic mistake, consider Jordan’s record related to Jan. 6.
大约五年前的这个时候，《纽约时报》报道称，这位极右翼国会议员早在2020年11月9日就参加了唐纳德·特朗普竞选总部的危机会议，而那时乔·拜登成为当选总统才两天。《纽约时报》另外报道称，乔丹还参加了2020年12月下旬在白宫举行的一次会议，会上他与落败的共和党总统谋划如何最好地挑战选举结果。
Around this time five years ago, The New York Times reported that the far-right congressman attended crisis meetings at Donald Trump’s campaign headquarters as early as Nov. 9, 2020, just two days after Joe Biden became president-elect. The Times separately reported that Jordan also participated in a meeting at the White House in late December 2020, at which he plotted with the defeated Republican president on how best to challenge the election results.
不久之后，在1月5日，乔丹向时任白宫办公厅主任马克·梅多斯转发了一条信息，描述了一个让时任副总统迈克·彭斯帮助否决共和党人不喜欢的选举结果的方案。
Soon after, on Jan. 5, Jordan forwarded a message to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, describing a scheme in which then-Vice President Mike Pence could help reject election results Republicans didn’t like.
前众议院共和党会议主席利兹·切尼对此事的总结言简意赅：“关于唐纳德·特朗普对1月6日的计划，吉姆·乔丹比众议院任何其他议员都更清楚。”有鉴于此，由两党组成的1月6日委员会传唤乔丹提供更多信息，切尼曾协助领导该委员会。在最初坚称自己“没什么可隐瞒的”之后，这位共和党国会议员最终拒绝遵守传票。
Former House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney summarized matters succinctly: “Jim Jordan knew more about what Donald Trump had planned for Jan. 6 than any other member of the House of Representatives.”With this in mind, the bipartisan Jan. 6 Committee, which Cheney helped lead, subpoenaed Jordan to provide additional information. After initially insisting that he had “nothing to hide,” the GOP congressman ultimately refused to comply with the subpoena.
一年后，乔丹险些成为众议院议长，在这一过程展开之际，《大西洋月刊》的罗恩·布朗斯坦写了一篇令人难忘的文章（发表于乔丹的竞选努力失败之前），提出了一个至今仍然成立的观点：乔丹的崛起……提供了更多证据，表明自内战以来首次出现这样的情况：美国两大政党之一的dominant派系不再致力于美国人所熟知的那套民主原则。这意味着国家现在面临自由公正选举传统持续受到威胁的可能性，而特朗普本人的反民主倾向不仅被容忍，还被他在全党各地的盟友放大。
A year later, Jordan very nearly became the speaker of the House, and as that process unfolded, The Atlantic’s Ron Brownstein wrote a memorable piece (published before Jordan’s bid collapsed) that raised a point that continues to ring true: Jordan’s rise ... provides more evidence that for the first time since the Civil War, the dominant faction in one of America’s two major parties is no longer committed to the principles of democracy as the U.S. has known them. That means the nation now faces the possibility of sustained threats to the tradition of free and fair elections, with Trump’s own antidemocratic tendencies not only tolerated but amplified by his allies across the party.
科罗拉多州民主党籍州务卿珍娜·格里斯沃尔德上周当选州总检察长，她告诉布朗斯坦，用“破坏选举”来形容乔丹2020年的活动“措辞太轻了”。
Jena Griswold, Colorado’s Democratic secretary of state who was elected as state attorney general last week, told Brownstein that “‘undermining the election’ is too soft a language” to describe Jordan’s activities in 2020.
“他参与了试图摧毁美国民主与总统职位和平交接的每一步，”她说。
“He was involved in every step to try to destroy American democracy and the peaceful transfer of the presidency,” she said.
格里斯沃尔德还说，如果乔丹成为议长，“你就不能再指望众议院议长来捍卫美国宪法了。”一个负责任、健康的政党，面对把乔丹提升到强有力领导职位的想法，本会哄堂大笑。但仍有106名共和党人支持他竞选众议院少数党领袖，这一事实确实令人不齿。本文更新了我们此前相关的报道。
If Jordan were to become speaker, Griswold added, “you could no longer count on the speaker of the House to defend the United States Constitution.”A responsible, healthy political party would have laughed uproariously at the very idea of elevating Jordan to a powerful leadership position. The fact that 106 Republicans supported his bid to become House minority leader anyway is genuinely scandalous. This post updates our related earlier coverage.