Leaders | How far will he go
社論｜他能走多遠
Leaders | How far will he go
Donald Trump: the would-be king
America is fated to wage a titanic struggle over the power of the president
IN HIS FIRST whirlwind month in office, Donald Trump has made his base exultant and left his opponents reeling. With his blitzkrieg, Mr Trump is trying to turn the presidency into the dominant branch of government. The question is how far his campaign goes before he is checked—if he is checked—and where it will leave the republic.
特朗普“新”官上任的第一個月，讓支持者歡欣鼓舞，卻令對手亂了陣腳。憑藉他的閃電戰，特朗普試圖讓總統成為政府權力的主導。問題在於，在他遭遇制衡之前——如果會遭遇制衡的話——他的這場攻勢能走多遠，以及這將給美國帶來怎樣的影響。
That fight is over the fundamental character of America. The president says he is clearing out waste, fraud and abuse from the bureaucracy, but his opponents warn he is wrecking the federal government. He says he is bringing peace to the world and prosperity at home; they warn he is shattering the alliances that keep the West strong. He says he is making America great again; they warn he is frogmarching the country into a constitutional crisis, or even a Trumpian autocracy.
這是一場關乎美國本質的較量。特朗普聲稱自己正在清除官僚體系中的浪費、欺詐與濫用職權行為；而反對者警告，他正在摧毀聯邦政府。他聲稱要為世界帶來和平、為美國創造繁榮；而反對者警告，他正在破壞維持西方世界強盛的聯盟。他宣稱要讓美國再次偉大；而反對者警告，他正將國家推向憲政危機，甚至是特朗普式的獨裁統治。
Mr Trump’s every act demonstrates his belief that power is vested in him personally, and affirms that he is bent on amassing more. Ignoring the legislature, he is governing by decree. He asserts that the president can withhold money allocated by Congress. The framers had expected that branch of government to be the most powerful but this would diminish it. Because some of Mr Trump’s 70 or so executive orders are, on the face of it, brazenly unconstitutional, he also appears to be seeking a trial of strength with the judiciary.
特朗普的一舉一動都表露，他堅信權力屬於他個人，並且執意攫取更多權力。他無視立法機構，靠政令治理國家。他堅稱總統有權扣留國會撥款。美國憲法的制定者們原本預期國會是權力最大的政府機構，但特朗普的所作所為正在削弱國會的權力。似乎他也試圖與司法機構掰手腕，因為特朗普頒佈的70多項行政命令中就有某些是公然違憲的。
註釋：Framers，即“Framers of the Constitution",指的是美國憲法的制定者。https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/founding-fathers
Everywhere you look, it is the same. Government departments are being thrown into confusion, partly to demonstrate Mr Trump’s personal authority over them. The Washington Post has reported that candidates for senior jobs in intelligence and law enforcement have been asked whether they endorse Mr Trump’s false claim that he won the election in 2020. Mr Trump has also swept away post-Watergate safeguards designed to keep the Department of Justice at arm’s length from politics. One of the department’s first acts has been to ask prosecutors to drop corruption charges against Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City—though only for as long as he does what Mr Trump demands.
樁樁件件，如出一轍。政府部門陷入混亂，一部分原因是為了彰顯特朗普的個人權威。據《華盛頓郵報》報道，情報和執法機構的高階職位候選人會被要求表態，是否認可特朗普關於自己是2020年大選真正贏家的錯誤言論。“水門事件”發生後，為確保司法部門與政治鬥爭保持安全距離，美國政府設立了一些防護機制，但特朗普已棄如敝履。特朗普上任後，司法部的首批行動之一就是要求檢察官撤銷對紐約市長埃裡克·亞當斯（Eric Adams）的腐敗指控，當然前提條件是他聽命於特朗普。
In foreign affairs, too, Mr Trump chafes to be rid of the obligations he inherited. America is quitting multinational outfits, such as the World Health Organisation, partly because they impose burdens. He has used the threat of tariffs to gain influence over foreign governments—this also empowers him at home by creating supplicants seeking relief. As he breaks a taboo by embracing Russia, he looks as if he is treating his alliance with Europe as something to bargain away.
在外交事務方面，特朗普同樣急於擺脫他接替前任總統的各項義務。美國正在退出世界衛生組織等多邊組織，部分原因是它們給美國帶來了負擔。他揮舞著關稅的大棒，一邊向外國政府施加影響，一邊藉此迫使更多人依賴政府救濟，增強他在國內的權力。當他打破禁忌擁抱俄羅斯時，他似乎將美國與歐洲的聯盟當成了可以拿來討價還價的籌碼。
You hear that such maximalist presidential ambitions are unprecedented. In fact, Mr Trump is hardly the first to want to dominate the republic. Franklin Roosevelt signed over 3,700 executive orders. In forcing through the New Deal, he spent six months trying to pack the Supreme Court. Power has been ebbing from Congress to the White House for the past three decades. There is a long Republican tradition calling for the restoration of true democracy by taking back power from bureaucrats. America has always been wary of being tied down by UN-type institutions.
有人說，這種總統權力最大化的野心是史無前例的。事實上，特朗普絕非第一個渴望主宰美國的總統。富蘭克林·羅斯福（Franklin Roosevelt）曾簽署超過3700項行政命令。為了推行新政，他花了六個月的時間試圖增加最高法院大法官的人數，以改變其力量分佈。在過去的30年裡，權力不斷從國會向白宮轉移。共和黨歷來主張，要從官僚手中收回權力來恢復真正的民主。美國也一直對聯合國等國際機構的牽制保持謹慎。
註釋：pack the court: to increase the number of justices on a court and especially the United States Supreme Court causing the ideological makeup of the Court to shift
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pack%20the%20court
Moreover, Mr Trump is entitled to set new goals for the bureaucracy. He also has a duty to make it honest and efficient. Bill Clinton’s drive to streamline government cut over 420,000 federal jobs. As we argue last week, departments need shaking up—including the Pentagon, which is failing to prepare America for 21st-century warfare. And Mr Trump has every reason to seek peace in Europe and the Middle East, both to save lives and to free America to focus on its rivalry with XX.
此外，特朗普有權為官僚機構設定新目標，也有責任使其更加廉潔高效。比爾·克林頓（Bill Clinton）曾透過精簡政府削減了超過42萬個聯邦工作崗位。本刊上週的文章曾提到，政府部門亟需改革——包括五角大樓，還沒做好應對21世紀戰爭的準備。特朗普有充分的理由在歐洲和中東尋求和平，這既是為了拯救生命，也是為了讓美國有更多精力專注於與XX的競爭。
However, government is about means as well as ends, and here Mr Trump’s critics are right to be alarmed. Bureaucratic shock therapy will bring a lot of harm before it does any good. Subjecting public servants to purity and loyalty tests will politicise the technicalities of running a complex modern economy. Subordinating justice to presidential whim corrupts the rule of law. His peace plan for Gaza would force Palestinians into permanent exile, a denial of their most fundamental rights. In each case Mr Trump has displayed wanton cruelty. Unfortunately, that is also a way of acquiring power—because humiliation embodies the idea that might is right.
然而，政府治理既要注重目的也要注重手段，因此特朗普的批評者會感到擔憂是正常的。大刀闊斧的官僚改革往往未見其利，先見其害。強制公務員接受純潔性和忠誠度測試，將使複雜的現代經濟運轉程式政治化。司法屈從總統意志會破壞法治。特朗普的加沙和平計劃剝奪了巴勒斯坦人最基本的權利，將迫使他們永久流亡。在每個案例中，特朗普都表現出肆意的殘忍。不幸的是，這也是一種獲取權力的方式——因為屈辱彰顯了“強權即公理”的理念。
And that belief is where Mr Trump will hit trouble. Take the courts. Just now, the president is mostly getting his way. Yet in a federal system where states have rights, and most citizens and investors still believe in the rule of law, the courts are powerful, even if they move slowly. The Supreme Court may give Mr Trump some of what he wants, but surely not all. Characteristically, he has pledged to abide by legal rulings, and then quoted Napoleon, saying: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”
正是這樣的信念讓特朗普陷入困境。以法院為例，如今總統基本可以為所欲為，然而聯邦體制下，各州擁有自己的權利，且大多數公民和投資者依然相信法治，法院雖行動遲緩也仍手握重權。最高法院可能會應允特朗普的部分訴求，但絕不會照單全收。特朗普慣以“遵紀守法”示人，卻援引拿破崙的名言：“救國者不違法。”
註釋：“He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.” 這句話出自拿破崙，表達的是一種特殊的法理觀點，強調在某些情況下，國家的生死存亡可能超越了法律的約束。拿破崙的意思是，如果一個人為了國家的利益和安全做出重大決策，甚至違反了常規的法律，他的行為可以被理解為正當的，因為他的目標是拯救國家。
Defiance of the Supreme Court would trigger a constitutional crisis and a second fight among officials, voters and financial markets over the future of the republic. New York is already seeing an inkling of this as federal prosecutors and New York officials resign in protest over the deal with Mr Adams.
對最高法院的蔑視將引發憲政危機，官員、選民和金融市場也將就國運之爭展開第二次鬥爭。這在紐約已露端倪：聯邦檢察官和紐約官員為抗議特朗普與市長亞當斯達成的交易，憤然辭職。
Even without a constitutional crisis, reality will begin to bite. Whatever Mr Trump asserts, tariffs and budget deficits do in fact create inflation. The markets know that well, just as they know how businesses will suffer if the justice system becomes a vehicle for cronyism and retribution. America’s bureaucracy provides vital services; if it breaks, citizens will go without. Americans may dislike the idea of aid, but what will they feel if they see little children being made to suffer in their name? Perhaps the voters currently endorsing Mr Trump’s first month will not care about any of that. But do not bet on it.
縱無憲政危機，不良影響也將逐步顯現。無論特朗普如何否認，關稅與財政赤字確實會引發通脹。市場對此心知肚明，市場也知道，如果司法淪為結黨傾軋的工具，企業必遭重創。美國的行政機構提供著至關重要的服務，一旦崩潰，將嚴重影響民生。美國民眾可能反感政府援助，但假如他們看到幼童因他們的所作所為而受苦，又會作何感想？或許在特朗普就任一個月內力挺他的選民對此毫不在意，但不要指望這樣的支援會一直持續。
In foreign policy Mr Trump is free to try to remake the world, and America may suffer a disastrous loss of influence to Russia before anyone can stop him. At home, by contrast, a fight is at hand and the president is still far from overturning America’s constitutional order. Mr Trump, being who he is, will contemplate any extreme. But in these tempestuous times Republicans should remember the virtue of restraint—out of self-interest as well as patriotism. Should a Democratic president win office, the powers Mr Trump seizes could be used against them.
外交方面，特朗普大可恣意重塑世界格局，但若無人阻止，俄羅斯可能會重挫美國的影響力。反觀美國國內，一場鬥爭近在眼前，特朗普距離顛覆美國憲政秩序尚有十萬八千里。特朗普就是這樣，他會考慮任何極端做法。但在這個動盪不定的時代，共和黨人當謹記剋制的美德，既為家國大義，也為自身利益。日後若民主黨執政，特朗普今日攫取的權力，也可能會化作反噬之利刃。
翻譯組：
zy
，當下快樂就是意義
Trista
，女，暴富不是夢想，是未來的現實
Yuqing
，女，理想主義體驗派，經濟學人讀者
審校組：
Shulin
，非上上智，無了了心
Hannah
，女，做個廢柴，保持愉快
風箏，熱愛生活熱愛翻譯熱愛搞錢熱愛貓咪
