这并非正常时期，这也不是一场正常的中期选举。两年来，特朗普总统像统治私人领地一样统治美国，而本应是他臣民的民众却忍受着战争、物价上涨和政治混乱。如今，美国选民已对共和党作出了历史性的清算，民主党必须证明自己能够引领一场政治重组。
These are not normal times, and that was not a normal midterm election. For two years, President Trump has ruled the United States like a personal fief while his would-be subjects have endured war, rising prices and political chaos. Now that Americans have delivered a historic reckoning for Republicans, Democrats must show that they can lead a political realignment.
机遇是划时代的。经过数十年的两极分化，共和党大本营的防线崩溃了。从州议会到联邦参议院，许多当选的民主党人更年轻，且来自非传统的政治背景。从中间派到左翼，他们不仅承诺有能力治理；他们直接向腐败体制和令人发指的权力集中发起挑战，并承诺让该体制为民众服务。在特朗普执政的十年里，民主党首次成为了民粹主义者。如果他们能保持这种势头，我们的镀金时代将有可能迎来一个进步时代。
The opportunity is generational. After decades of polarization, the dam broke in Republican strongholds. From state legislatures to the U.S. Senate, many Democrats who swept into office are younger and come from unconventional political backgrounds. From the center to the left, they didn’t just promise competent governance; they directly challenged a corrupt system and obscene concentrations of power, and they promised to make that system work for the people. For the first time in the Trump decade, the Democrats were the populists. If they can sustain that energy, our Gilded Age can be followed by a progressive era.
危险在于，一旦掌权，民主党会恢复照常营业。党内核心人物的自上而下领导。在国会大厦举行的、照着准备好的讲稿念的新闻发布会。通过向政治媒体泄密来进行的预算争斗。反复无常的政府停摆。中间派与左翼之间琐碎的争吵。对特朗普先生装修项目的表演式监督，让人感觉与美国民众正在承受的痛苦脱节。
The danger is that once in power, Democrats will revert to business as usual. Top-down leadership from party insiders. News conferences at the Capitol with canned talking points. Budget fights that play out in leaks to the political press. Stop-and-start government shutdowns. Petty quarreling between centrists and the left. Performative oversight of Mr. Trump’s renovation projects that feels disconnected from the pain Americans are feeling.
简而言之，在特朗普时代的末期，民主党掌权的样子、感觉和实质必须与以往截然不同。治理必须是可见的、参与式的、有实效的。如果不是，这股蓝色海啸将会退去。
In short, Democratic power in the waning days of the Trump era must look, feel and be different from past incarnations. Governance must be visible, participatory and consequential. If it isn’t, the blue tsunami will recede.
有现成的蓝图可循。两年前，亚萨明·安萨里年仅32岁当选凤凰城选区众议员后，被选为众议院民主党新人班主席。她没有遵循常规剧本，而是回应了时代的呼唤。
There are blueprints for how to do this. After she was elected to her Phoenix district two years ago at the age of 32, Yassamin Ansari was chosen to be president of the House Democrats freshman class. Instead of following a conventional playbook, she met the energy of the times.
在移民与海关执法局（ICE）开始将人遣送至萨尔瓦多后，她在许多机构都向特朗普低头或回避移民问题之际前往该国。此后，她已探访美国境内十余座ICE拘留中心，讲述选民的故事，揭露以营利为目的的私营监狱从大规模关押移民中获利的道德沦丧。在共和党人阻止公布爱泼斯坦档案后，她在众议长迈克·约翰逊办公室外的一张桌子前坐了数小时，桌上立着一块牌子，写着：“迈克·约翰逊让家庭挨饿、削减医疗保健，只为掩盖爱泼斯坦档案。来改变我的想法啊。”
After Immigration and Customs Enforcement started deporting people to El Salvador, she traveled there at a time when many institutions were bending the knee to Mr. Trump or ducking immigration. She has since made over a dozen visits to ICE detention centers in the United States, telling her constituents’ stories and highlighting the moral corruption of for-profit prisons benefiting from the mass incarceration of immigrants. After Republicans blocked the release of the Epstein files, she sat for hours at a table outside of Speaker Mike Johnson’s office under a sign that read: “Mike Johnson is starving families and gutting health care to cover up the Epstein files. Change my mind.”
“人们希望你直接出现在问题发生的地方，”上周大选后她对我说。这能让你获得关注，并将被操纵的体制与导致选民要求变革的后果联系起来。“人们真正想看的是你在行动，而不只是在说教。”在纽约，佐赫兰·马姆达尼是特朗普第二次当选后，首位展现这种“全方位、全时段、全领域”行动手册的民主党人。他以负担得起为核心竞选议题，现身城市各个角落，让生活成本危机有了具体的人面。
“People want you to show up directly at the places where the issues are happening,” she told me after last week’s election. That allows you to get attention and connect the dots between a rigged system and the outcomes that have left voters demanding change. “People really want to see you showing, not just telling.”In New York, Zohran Mamdani was the first Democrat after the second Trump election to model this kind of everything-everywhere-all-at-once playbook. He ran a campaign focused on affordability, showing up in all parts of the city to humanize the cost-of-living crisis.
就职后，他延续了这种狂飙般的节奏，寻找一切能拉动的杠杆，以恢复人们对政府确实能有所作为的信心——打击恶劣房东、拨款支持托儿服务，甚至让父母得以享受一个放松的夜晚。他在纽约市的支持率已升至近70%。
Once in office, he continued this frenetic pace, searching for every lever he could pull to restore confidence that government could, in fact, do something — going after bad landlords, funding child care and even giving parents a night off. His favorability rating in New York City has risen to nearly 70 percent.
马姆达尼27岁的首席政治策略师莫里斯·卡茨形容从竞选到市长任期的转变：“你必须以现代注意力跨度的速度来治理。”吸取这一教训，是防止民主党掌权后热气从气球中缓缓泄出的根本所在。
Morris Katz, Mr. Mamdani’s 27-year-old chief political strategist, described the transition from campaigning to the mayoralty: “You have to govern at the speed of the modern attention span.”Heeding that lesson is fundamental to not allowing the air to slowly trickle out of the balloon once the Democrats take power.
卡茨先生的公司协助吉娜·伊诺霍萨打破了共和党对得克萨斯州州长职位的控制。她的竞选活动围绕反对数据中心和 Flock 摄像头大量涌入得州这一议题，打造了一种民粹主义信息，建立了一个涵盖左翼人士、自由意志主义者以及两者之间各方人士的联盟。民主党最糟糕的做法，就是用那种熟悉的内部人士作风，去交换来之不易的民粹主义能量。
Mr. Katz’s firm helped Gina Hinojosa break the Republican grip on the Texas governorship. Her campaign cultivated a populist message against the flood of data centers and Flock cameras into Texas, building a coalition that encompassed leftists and libertarians and everyone in between. The worst thing that Democrats could do is trade that newfound populist energy for a familiar insider ethos.
“我们要记住，我们没有掌控白宫，”卡茨警告说。“他们才是建制派。我们依然是挑战他们的局外人。”历史为即将上台的民主党多数派提供了警示故事，其中最直接导致特朗普两次当选总统的两次中期选举便是例证。
“We need to remember that we don’t have the White House,” Mr. Katz warned. “They are the establishment. We are still the outsiders running against them.”History provides cautionary tales for the incoming Democratic majorities, including the two midterm elections that led most directly to the two Trump presidencies.
2010 年，共和党乘着民粹主义的红色浪潮，在金融危机的后遗症和右翼对奥巴马总统任期的反弹中，赢得了众议院的大比数多数席位。几乎立刻，民粹主义的“茶党”运动与共和党建制派之间便出现了分裂，后者在兑现不了的废除奥巴马议程的承诺、与总统谈判财政改革“大交易”之间反复摇摆。
In 2010, Republicans rode a populist red wave to a large House majority amid the hangover from the financial crisis and a right-wing backlash to Barack Obama’s presidency. Almost immediately, there was a split between the populist Tea Party and the Republican establishment, which veered between making promises it couldn’t keep about repealing the Obama agenda and negotiating a grand bargain for fiscal reform with the president.
两者均未成功。奥巴马轻松连任，到 2016 年，建制派共和党已失去对其选民的控制，这些选民弃之而去，转而支持特朗普。
Neither succeeded. Mr. Obama was handily re-elected, and by 2016, establishment Republicans had lost control of their voters, who abandoned them for Mr. Trump.
快进到 2022 年。尽管面临政治逆风，民主党仍保住了参议院的微弱多数优势。这在很大程度上归功于共和党提名了沃克和马斯特斯等极端候选人，他们分别败给了民主党明星候选人沃诺克和凯利。然而，拜登总统却选择将这一结果解读为授权他——时年 80 岁、支持率仅在 40% 出头——竞选连任。其后的故事，就是我们正在经历的历史。
Fast-forward to 2022. Democrats held a narrow Senate majority despite political headwinds. This owed much to Republicans nominating extremist candidates such as Herschel Walker and Blake Masters, who lost to the Democratic stars Raphael Warnock and Mark Kelly. Yet President Joe Biden chose to interpret the results as a mandate for him, at 80 years old, to run for re-election despite an approval rating in the low 40s. The rest is the history we’re living.
2024年大选后，大多数民主党人在一点上达成共识：需要实现代际更替。该党需要让更新、更年轻的面孔站在前台，不应仅因建制派人物积累了丰厚的政治声望就继续听命于他们。
After the 2024 election, one thing most Democrats agreed upon was the need for generational change. The party needed newer, younger faces out front and should no longer defer to establishment figures just because they’d built up a reservoir of good will.
这一教训同样适用于当下的参议院。查克·舒默一直是民主党政治中一股强大而有效的力量，但参议院民主党党魁一职该由新人接任了。得出选民希望看到不同面孔带领一个焕然一新的民主党这一结论，并非否定他的任期表现——选民想要的是能够走出华盛顿与民沟通、挑战既得利益集团、让国会更加平易近人的领导人。
That lesson should apply to the Senate today. Chuck Schumer has been a powerful and effective force in Democratic politics, but it is time for a new leader of the party in the Senate. It is not a rebuke of his tenure to conclude that voters want to see different faces leading a regenerated Democratic Party — people who can communicate outside of Washington, challenge special interests and make Congress more accessible.
刚刚宣布竞选多数党领袖的克里斯·范霍伦，当然可以作为一位进步派代言人提出令人信服的主张：特朗普政府刚上台时，他前往萨尔瓦多反对大规模驱逐行动；在加沙问题上，他不顾民主党领导层意愿另辟蹊径；他承诺要对抗一个导致美国民众对政府失去信心的腐败体制。
Chris Van Hollen, who just announced a bid for majority leader, can certainly make a credible case as a progressive voice who traveled to El Salvador to oppose mass deportations at the beginning of the Trump administration, bucked Democratic leadership on Gaza and promises to take on a corrupt system that has caused Americans to lose faith in their government.
许多新当选的参议院民主党人是华盛顿的新面孔——如南卡罗来纳州的安妮·安德鲁斯、堪萨斯州的亚当·汉密尔顿、缅因州的特洛伊·杰克逊和密歇根州的阿卜杜勒·赛义德。他们都表示党派需要新领导，这绝非巧合。如果强迫他们——以及其他与党领导层保持距离的新当选民主党人——一到华盛顿就立刻推翻这一立场，只会滋生愤世嫉俗的情绪。
Many of the newly elected Senate Democrats are fresh faces in Washington — people like Annie Andrews in South Carolina, Adam Hamilton in Kansas, Troy Jackson in Maine and Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. It is no coincidence that they all said the party needed new leadership. It would only breed cynicism to force them — and other newly elected Democrats who distanced themselves from party leadership — to reverse that stance as soon as they get to Washington.
民主党有机会展示自己已蜕变为截然不同的模样。为何不抓住这个机会？
The Democratic Party has an opportunity to show that it has evolved into something different. Why not take it?
这些新的民主党多数派该如何以一种回应时代要求的方式执政？非常时期需要非常手段。
How can these new Democratic majorities govern in a manner that meets the moment? Extreme times demand unusual tactics.
首先，从一开始就表明你认真对待反腐败。民主党候选人招募联合主席、科罗拉多州众议员杰森·克劳为我勾勒了这类议程。禁止议员及其工作人员交易股票或使用预测市场。不接受企业政治行动委员会的资金。禁止在选举最后几周突然涌现的“临时政治行动委员会”。
First, show at the outset that you’re serious about combating corruption. Representative Jason Crow of Colorado, who co-chaired candidate recruitment for the Democrats, sketched out that kind of agenda for me. Ban members and staff from trading stocks or using prediction markets. Don’t take money from corporate PACs. Ban the pop-up PACs that emerge during the final weeks of an election.
第二，开展监督，讲述权力如何让少数人致富而物价持续上涨的故事。聚焦特朗普及其寡头圈子的敛财行为是必要的，但还不够。要将这种腐败与他们利用以致富的经济领域联系起来：加密货币、国防技术、预测市场和人工智能，仅举几例。
Second, conduct oversight that tells a story about how power enriches the few while prices keep rising. It is necessary, but not sufficient, to spotlight the grift of Mr. Trump and his oligarchs. Connect that corruption to the sectors of our economy that they have exploited to enrich themselves: crypto, defense technologies, prediction markets and artificial intelligence, to name a few.
那些大型律所、科技公司和媒体组织为了换取特朗普的青睐，承诺或提供了什么？人们为赦免令支付了多少？外国对特朗普核心圈子的投资规模有多大？为什么有些人变得如此富有，而这么多人却买不起汽油和食品杂货？
What did those big law firms, tech companies and media organizations promise or provide in return for Mr. Trump’s favor? How much are people paying for pardons? What is the scale of foreign investment in Mr. Trump’s inner circle? Why are some people getting so rich while so many people can’t afford gas and groceries?
成立专门委员会处理腐败和人工智能等议题，并利用这些平台推举党内更年轻、更优秀的传播者。像安萨里女士那样，走出华盛顿深入全国各地。前往移民与海关执法局设施曝光虐待行为，走访因伊朗战争和关税而遭受重创的农村社区。传唤科技寡头到国会作证，但不要在华盛顿开听证会。“如果你要在人工智能问题上有所作为，”卡茨先生告诉我，“就去数据中心门前，传唤科技大佬到场。”
Set up special committees on issues such as corruption and A.I. and use those platforms to elevate the party’s younger and best messengers. As Ms. Ansari did, get out in the country. Go to ICE facilities to expose abuse and to rural communities hit hard by the war in Iran and tariffs. Haul tech oligarchs in front of Congress, but don’t do it in Washington. “If you’re going to do something on A.I.,” Mr. Katz told me, “go in front of a data center and subpoena the tech guys to be there.”Third, pass popular legislation that responds directly to what Americans care about. With a healthy Senate majority, Democrats should abolish the filibuster so that every bill does not require an excruciating process to reach 60 votes. That would allow a pace of action that meets the enormous needs of the times.
第三，通过直接回应美国民众关切的受欢迎立法。拥有稳健的参议院多数席位，民主党应废除冗长辩论规则，使每项法案无需经历痛苦流程凑齐60票。这将使行动节奏能够满足时代的巨大需求。
Take direct aim at the affordability crisis. Reverse Medicaid cuts. Raise the minimum wage. Defund the war on Iran. Rescind costly tariffs. Regulate A.I. to prevent job displacement and insist upon safety testing for models. If Mr. Trump vetoes these bills, pass them again and force Republicans to choose between forming veto-proof majorities and siding with a historically unpopular president.
直指负担能力危机。扭转医疗补助削减。提高最低工资。切断对伊朗战争的资金。撤销高昂关税。监管人工智能以防止工作岗位流失，并坚持要求对模型进行安全测试。如果特朗普否决这些法案，再次通过它们，迫使共和党人在组建足以推翻否决的多数派与站在一位历史上极不得人心的总统一边之间做出选择。
Meanwhile, against the backdrop of a presidential campaign, design more ambitious legislation that demonstrates what Democrats would do with full control of the government. To appropriately tax wealth to reduce inequality and fund public education and health care. To truly get money out of politics and make the kind of corruption we’ve seen illegal. To secure the border without targeting immigrants in our communities. To prohibit a president from going to war without first getting approval from Congress.
与此同时，在总统竞选的背景下，设计更具雄心的立法，展示民主党若全面掌控政府将采取何种作为。适当对财富征税以减少不平等、为公共教育和医疗提供资金。真正把钱赶出政治，让我们所见的那种腐败行为成为非法。在不针对我们社区中的移民的前提下保卫边境。禁止总统在未先获得国会批准的情况下发动战争。
The more ambitious the program, the more the party will have to negotiate its own differences between progressives and the center. But the common thread holding this coalition together should be populist. The crisis in America today owes much to the increasing concentration of power in fewer hands: Big Tech, private equity, consolidated media and a coterie of political megadonors. Democrats must show — through their messengers, words and deeds — that they are the party committed to breaking up these concentrations of power and returning it to the people who just voted for it in staggering numbers.
纲领越雄心勃勃，党派就越不得不协调进步派与中间派之间的分歧。但维系这一联盟的共同纽带应当是民粹主义。当今美国的危机在很大程度上源于权力日益集中在更少的人手中：大型科技公司、私募股权、整合后的媒体以及一小撮政治巨额捐赠者。民主党必须通过其传播者、言辞和行动表明，他们是致力于打破这些权力集中、将权力归还给刚刚以惊人数量投出选票的人民的政党。
Opportunities for a genuine political realignment don’t come along often. After a decade of Donald Trump, Americans are desperate for change. Democrats must show that they are ready to carry that energy into government, or else the pendulum will swing in a different direction.
真正的政治重组机会并不常有。在唐纳德·特朗普执政十年后，美国人渴望变革。民主党必须展示他们已准备好将这种能量带入政府，否则钟摆将向另一个方向摆动。本·罗兹是特约评论作家，其最新著作为《我们所说的一切》。
Ben Rhodes is a contributing Opinion writer and the author, most recently, of “All We Say.”