（评论翻译）美媒反思并建议效仿中国: 美国为何丧失认知免疫力？

本文作者是《纽时》著名专栏作家、《世界是平的》作者弗里德曼。文章认为， 特朗普的当选只是美国丧失免疫力的副产品，但他的领导则成了美国丧失免疫力的巨大加速器。文中引用专家观点，建议效仿中国抗疫防疫做法。

限于篇幅，只摘译部分获推荐较多的评论。评论几乎一面倒，对美国现状和未来充满悲观。某些心头滴血的评论，令译者这种“敌方人士”也忍不住心有戚戚焉，比如“我们败坏了我们的巢穴，我们的家，我们的美利坚！这些是连动物都不会去做的事情。”

​原文（源自《参考消息》）：

如果乔·拜登要为他与唐纳德·特朗普一较高低的竞选活动找一条标语，我会建议下面这条：“让美国再次免疫。”

国家力量被削弱

这次疫情既暴露也加剧了一个事实，即过去20年来，我们作为一个国家削弱了自己的许多力量源泉。我们同时削弱了自己的认知、生态、经济、社会、治理、公共卫生和个人健康的免疫系统——这是我们用最小的生命和生计代价渡过这场疫情难关所需的全部力量的源泉。

所有这些免疫缺陷都是我们这么多年来作为一个国家放任自我、任由自己“知傻犯傻”的合理结果——贬低科学和阅读的价值，抨击公务员的政治运动，把政治变成娱乐，更不用说养成令四成美国人肥胖的可怕饮食习惯了。

沃伦·巴菲特说得没错：当潮水退去时，你会看到谁在裸泳。现在裸泳的是我们。我们仍然很出众，但现在的出众之处在于，我们的新冠肺炎累计确诊病例和死亡病例数量领先全球。

来自我的家乡明尼苏达州的75岁退休人员格洛丽亚·杰克逊对《华盛顿邮报》记者说：“在我年轻的时候，我们在各个方面都是处于领先的国家。而现在我们是什么样子？我们刻薄，我们自私，我们固执，有时甚至无能……看起来其他一些国家几乎为我们感到遗憾了……我们不能我行我素……没有领导，没有团结，所以每个人都为所欲为……意味着每个容易受伤的人都将损失惨重。”

共和党完全脱轨

多年来，这种对我们的集体社会免疫力的削弱来自很多方面，但最严重的莫过于完全脱轨的共和党。唐纳德·特朗普的当选是我们丧失免疫力的副产品，但他的领导现在成了我们丧失免疫力的巨大加速器。

当我们迫切需要以最好的科学知识作为指导时，特朗普每天的大量谎言和他将自己不喜欢的一切东西斥为“假新闻”的批评言论，在很大程度上导致我们丧失了“认知免疫力”——我们从谎言中辨别出真相和从科幻小说中辨别出科学的能力。

当我们需要全球协调一致的行动来应对疫情时，特朗普破坏了我们拥有的每一个联盟。

当我们需要高度的社会信任以便在国内采取协调一致的应对行动时，特朗普对我们进行分化并在所有事情上耍两面派——甚至告诉人们既要起来反对他们的州长又要根据他的指导意见实施封锁——的政治策略，与我们赢得这场战役所需的“万众一心”的态度背道而驰。

当获得负担得起的医疗服务变得极其重要时，当一线医护人员需要知道，如果自己去上班而生病、会有某种保障体系来保护他们时，特朗普却一直在努力废除奥巴马政府时期颁布的《平价医疗法案》，甚至没有仔细考虑过替代方案。

当我们比以往任何时候都更需要我们的预警系统发挥最大潜力时，正如加勒特·格拉夫最近在《政治报》上所指出的，“在新冠肺炎占据世界舞台的几乎每一天”，美国国土安全部和国家情报总监办公室的四个最高职位“全都被临时代理官员所占据”。

特朗普对任何挑战其言论的职业公务员的报复，无疑导致了美国疾病控制和预防中心的软弱反应。专家们不敢举手发言反驳总统。

科学抗疫遭反对

怎样才能增强我们对新冠肺炎的集体免疫力？首先要明白的是，这几周的封锁所做到的唯一的事就是减缓了疫情的传播。我们仍然需要一项可持续的计划来挽救生命和生计，直到我们获得群体免疫，不管是以自然方式还是通过疫苗。有三种基本办法。

一种是瑞典采取的部分封锁的方法，保护最脆弱的群体，让最健康的群体以自然方式被感染、康复并产生所谓“群体免疫”。

另一种是中国的策略：严格封锁，然后让复工的人佩戴口罩并保持社交距离，对所有病毒携带者进行检测、追踪和隔离以遏制疫情，直到疫苗能够提供群体免疫。

而我们却是以一种毫无计划、各自为政的方式。我问过曾在奥巴马政府担任公共卫生局局长的维韦克·默西医生，我们成功的前景如何？

他说：“我们在监控和检测方面不可能像中国那样积极主动，事实是，我们充其量只能达到它的10%。简而言之，我们落后了。”

默西说：“速度就是一切。失去时间就等于失去生命。通过检测找到感染者——以及所有接触者——的能力是最重要的。”

默西解释说，这是因为我们今天在美国面临的最大挑战是“社区传播”。

默西建议联邦政府效仿中国的做法：租用空置的酒店为最脆弱的人群或感染者提供隔离选项，雇用大量工人加入每个州由公共卫生专家领导的追踪小组。

总而言之，如果我们要挽救大多数人的生命，同时让大多数人重返工作岗位，以防止失业、抑郁和绝望的蔓延，就需要采取一种由联邦政府协调的美国版本的中国策略。

但特朗普反对这种基于科学的全国协调一致的做法，因为呼吁支持者抵制他自己政府的卫生指导原则在政治上对他是有利的。

评论部分（译者即为作者本人）：

 John Techwriter

Oakland, CAMay 6

Times Pick

In case you're not aware, it's over. The virus is firmly entrenched in our population. Starting this month the pandemic will run rampant, starting with the red states. Soon we will all be exposed to the virus.

Millions will die. Millions more will enter poverty as their assets are swept up by hedge funds and other opportunists. There already are food lines; in days to come there will be riots, maybe terrorism.

When the Democrats take over next year they will be in charge of a broken country. The only hope will be to elect a visionary president along with a Democratic congress. The traumatized public will support a constitutional convention that eliminates the electoral college and restructures the senate to reflect states' population. And health care reform will finally be a reality.

Over the coming decade, America's cancer of greed, hate, and inequality will be excised and this country will begin its return to greatness.

万一你不知道，那就完了。这种病毒根深蒂固存在于我们的人群中。从这个月开始，疫情将会从红色州开始大肆蔓延。很快我们都会暴露在病毒的威胁之下。

数百万人将因此死去。随着资产被对冲基金和其他投机者洗劫一空，还有数百万更多的人将陷入贫困。已经有人为领取食物排起长队了，在未来的日子里，将会产生骚乱，也许还有恐怖主义行为。

如果明年民主党接任，他们接手的将是一个支离破碎的国家。唯一的希望将是选出一个有远见的总统和一个民主的国会。饱受精神创伤的公众将支持一个取消选举团制度、重组参议院，以反映各州人口状况的制宪会议。医疗改革终将落实。

在未来十年里，美国贪婪、仇恨和不平等的毒瘤将被切除，国家将开始回归伟大。

Sean

Westlake, OHMay 6

Times Pick

Mr. Friedman, your attribution to Warren Buffet is correct, "we are swimming naked".  Worse yet we discovered today that among all his other qualities Donald J. Trump is a QUITTER.   The job of leading the United States is just too hard.   Trump has decided to get back on Air Force One to get to his campaign rallies in order extend our sentence to four more years.   Worse than his lack of leadership are those that don't hold him accountable for a single misstep.  Unfortunately the Covid 19 virus is still here and it doesn't discriminate on income, race or political affiliation.

弗里德曼先生，你对沃伦·巴菲特的认识是正确的，“我们在裸泳”。更糟糕的是，我们现在才发现，在唐纳德·特朗普的所有其他品质中，他还是一个轻言放弃的人。而领导美国本身就是一份非常艰难的工作。特朗普已经决意重返空军一号去参加他的竞选集会，好再祸祸我们四年。比他缺乏领导力更糟糕的，是对他的过失一次也不追究这种事。不幸的是，新冠病毒依然还在肆虐，它却不会因为人的收入、种族或政治立场的不同而区别对待。

Observer

The AllegheniesMay 6

Times Pick

Thanks for this, Tom. I couldn't agree more. You can't fool chemistry, biology, and physics.

谢谢你的文章，汤姆。我完全同意你的观点。你可以骗人，但却骗不了化学、生物和物理这些科学。

Carl

USMay 6

Times Pick

We shipped the bulk of our manufacturing capability to Mexico or overseas. Then we spent the last 20 years blowing holes in the deserts of the Middle East instead of building infrastructure at home. Both of these moves were implemented and approved by both political parties, as well as this columnist.

We have the government, and the country, that we deserve.

我们将大部分生产能力迁往墨西哥或海外。然后我们花了20年时间在中东的沙漠上炸洞，而不是在国内营建基础设施。这两项举措的实施，均获两党以及这位专栏作家的赞同。

我们怎样，国家和政府就怎样，没人是无辜的。

Mike S.

Eugene, ORMay 6

Times Pick

For those who want us to get back to business, I've got news: dealing with this virus IS the nation's business right now, and not much else. Our relationship with this virus now is much like our situation was with microbes a century ago. It's past time to turn our resources inward, meaning we need to save ourselves.

We need to feed, house, and care for our people right now., and frankly that is all we need to do. We have the resources to do it. . It won't be much of a life compared to what people are used to, but it won't last forever. 

Death will.

对于那些想让我们复工的人，我要说的是：处理病毒才是国家当前的急务，而不是其它事情。我们现在和这种病毒的关系，很像一个世纪前我们和细菌的关系一样。现在是时候把我们的资源转向内部了，意味着我们要自我拯救。

我们现在需要为人民提供食物、住房和关怀，坦白说，我们所要做的就是这些了。我们也有足够的资源这么做。与人们过去习惯的生活相比，这种生活水平确实差了些，但不会永远如此。

可是死亡却时刻都会发生。

Anne-Marie Hislop

ChicagoMay 6

Times Pick

Sadly, there is zero chance that we will get a national strategy. Trump said loudly and clearly that he does not take responsibility for anything (not that most of us needed to be told that).  Criticizing, taking pot-shots, sneering, and blaming are not only his stock & trade, but are also the entertainment for which his base loves him.

He has put himself "in charge" of the effort to find a vaccine to be ready by the end of the year. If a successful one is forthcoming, believe that he will strut and preen and take full credit for saving the nation, if not the world. He will, as usual, have actually done nothing, yet his fans will believe his propaganda. All I can figure is that they either do not pay attention most of the time or else they have an incredible ability to constantly forget what they just heard.

可悲的是，我们没有机会去制定国家战略。

特朗普明确而理直气壮地说过，他不对任何事情（我们大多数人不会被告知的事情）负责。批评、肆意抨击、冷嘲热讽、指责，这些不仅是他应对股票和贸易的方式，也是其支持者所喜欢的消遣。

他把自己置于“负责”于年底前研发出疫苗的工作的位置。若果真成功研发出一种疫苗，相信我说的，他会趾高气扬地，再把自己打扮得衣冠楚楚，然后把拯救国家(如果不是拯救世界的话)的功劳都归于自己。他肯定会这样，其实他跟往常一样，啥都没干，可是他的粉丝们却会坚信他的宣传。我所能想到的是，他们要么大部分时间不注意（特朗普都干了什么），要么就是有一种不可思议的本事，不断忘记他们刚刚听到的东西。

sdavidc9

Cornwall Bridge, ConnecticutMay 6

Times Pick

What we needed to do was make sure that our essential workers in food, utilities, and health had first rights to tests and protective gear, and bonuses to boot, so that the rest of us could stay home and stop the virus from spreading.  This would mean a temporary suspension of free enterprise and the substitution of a command economy that could tell private enterprises what to do.  It would be financed by federal borrowing.

This would be big government with a vengeance, and would set precedents and spread ideas that Republicans and the establishment are reluctant to set and spread.  So it did not happen.

我们需要做的是确保我们在食品、公共事业和卫生领域的必要工作人员，能够优先进行检测和穿戴防护装备，并获得奖金激励，这样我们其他人就可以呆在家里，从而阻断病毒传播。这就意味着要暂时关停自由企业，代之以可以引导私营企业该做什么的计划经济。这将由联邦借款提供资金。

这将会是一个复仇式的大政府，并将开创共和党和建制派不愿开创的先例，传播他们不愿传播的思想。所以这事并未发生。

XY

NYCMay 6

Times Pick

The correct solution is not to try to get back to how it was.

What we had wasn't so good. Traffic jams. Time wasted commuting. Pollution.  Let's turn lemons into lemonade.

I'm a math professor. To my great surprise I found that my students do better with distance learning.  There is no real need for a physical campus (except for labs). 

Not all jobs are like mine. However, a lot are. A lot of office work can be done from home.

More work done from home means less commuting, which means less pollution. It also means less crowded trains, roads, and streets. It means more efficient use of resources.

It means less spread of COVID19.

正确的解决办法是不要试图回到过去。

我们做的不太好。交通堵塞，浪费上下班的时间，还有污染问题。让我们转危为机，把柠檬变成柠檬水。

我是数学教授。令我大为惊讶的是，我发现我的学生们更擅长远程学习。基本上不需要实际的校园(除了实验室)。

不是所有的工作都像我这样。可是类似我这种的工作还是有很多。很多办公室工作都可以居家办公。

更多的居家办公意味着更少的通勤，也意味着更少的交通污染。这还意味着火车、公路和街道不再那么拥挤。这意味着更高效地利用资源。

所有这些都意味着更少传播新冠病毒。

Karl Popper

PittsburghMay 6

Times Pick

The U.S. is beginning to look more and more like a country I know well and Mr. Friedman does too: Lebanon. At one point it was "Switzerland of the Middle East",  but finally collapsed when sense of community  eroded and religion became politics and politics  religion.  The demagoguery of American politicians, their penchant for lying, and subservience to moneyed interests are not much different from that of their Lebanese counterparts.  The only difference is that Lebanon united for a change and beat the pandemic (see Hopkins COVID website), but the U.S. didn't.

美国看上去越来越像一个我很熟悉的国家，弗里德曼先生也这么认为：黎巴嫩。

黎巴嫩一度被称为“中东的瑞士”，但最终随着社区意识的削弱，以及宗教变成了政治和政治变成了宗教而崩溃。美国政客的蛊惑人心、说谎的嗜好以及对金钱利益的屈从，与其黎巴嫩同行并没有多大区别。唯一的不同是，黎巴嫩为了改变而团结起来，并战胜了大流行（见霍普金斯大学新冠病毒网站），但美国并没有这么做。

Holly

CanadaMay 6

Times Pick

What Trump has banked on from Day One is that he can sell anything as long as it is entertaining. He just took the The Apprentice and turned it into ‘The President’ and his base has lapped it up. This season is titled ‘The Pandemic, Is It Really That Bad?’

Trump finds science boring and tedious and getting in the way of his rallies. He wants to ‘open up’ your country so he can justify filling up his venues. Stepping over bodies is just collateral damage so he can hear all those cheers again, and cheers there will be.

How this ends is anyone’s  guess, but I am hoping facts and science will win out. However facts do not entertain and no one knows that better than Trump.

特朗普从上任第一天起就指望的是，只要是具备娱乐效应的事情，他都能推销出去。他只是把《学徒》这档节目变成了《总统》，而他的支持者们已经欣然接受了。这一季的标题是“大流行，真的那么糟糕吗?”

特朗普觉得科学枯燥乏味，妨碍了他的竞选集会。他想要“开放”国家，这样他就有理由让集会场馆塞满人了。踩着别人的尸体只不过是附带伤害，这样他就能再次听到那些欢呼声，而且欢呼声还会继续。

所有人都在猜测这场疫情会如何结束，但我希望事实和科学会最终胜出。然而，事实不具备娱乐效应，再说也没人比特朗普更懂这一点。

JD

Portland, MeMay 6

Times Pick

Just when you thought we might be about to turn the corner, Trump announces he is disbanding the pandemic task force, and we are left to guess why in the middle of a pandemic he would possibly do that. My guess is its the same reason he doesn't want science based public testimony in front of the House on this pandemic.  He wants to be the smart guy, and is going to try to bull his way through a pandemic, as though that 'you're fired' fantasy was even possible with a virus. He announced himself as the deep state disrupt-er, and he loves his role so much that now he is disrupting his own CDC response, Follow the guidelines and simultaneously liberate!

Here in Maine the result is a few restaurants are disobeying the mandate for no sit down restaurants. MAGA hats are lined up outside a certain large eatery I won't name and give publicity to, no masks, sitting close, out of state plates on cars so who knows where the virus is off to by now. How do you do tracing on that crowd? The governor took away their license to operate as a result, but they are still doing business! And even if there is an arrest of the owner, damage is done already, they have served thousands by now, and nobody was wearing a mask. And yes, I blame Trump! Mister 'liberate!' if he had stuck to the science based script, a lot of lives would have been saved. And I blame the entire Republican party for their acquiescence.

就在你认为我们可能会转危为安的时候，特朗普宣布他将解散疫情特别工作组，我们只能猜测，他为什么会在大流行期间这样做。我猜这也是他不希望在众议院就这次疫情公开作证的原因。他想成为最聪明的那个人，并试图在一场大流行中强势贯彻自己的路线，就好像“你被炒了”的幻想甚至也可能与病毒有关。他宣称自己是“深层政府颠覆者”，他如此热爱自己的角色，以至于现在他颠覆了自己对疾病控制中心的反应，遵循这些指导方针，同时解放了自己!

在缅因州，结果是一些餐馆违反了“禁止坐在餐馆”的禁令。一帮戴着“让美国再次伟大”帽子的人，在某家大餐馆外面排着队，我不愿说名字给它做宣传，这些人都没戴口罩，他们近距离坐着，都是州外的车牌，所以现在谁知道病毒去了哪里。你又如何追踪这帮人？州长因此吊销了他们的营业执照，但他们还在营业!即使逮捕了餐馆老板，但伤害已经造成，他们已经接待了数千个没戴口罩的人。是的，我当然要怪特朗普!这位“解放”先生!如果他坚持基于科学的脚本，将会拯救很多人的命。同时我还要谴责整个共和党的默许。

The Dude

Spokane, WAMay 6

Times Pick

My wife and I are both over 70.  In December, my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and is now in her third month of chemotherapy.  As a result of her treatments and her age, my wife obviously falls into the category of “most vulnerable” that all the immediate “openers” promise will be protected under their plans to re-open America. We have been sheltering in place now for over three months. So my question to these people who promise to protect the “most vulnerable” is, what exactly are you proposing to protect people like my wife?  Is it just more home quarantine time while you and your families visit restaurants, go shopping, get your hair cut at salons, etc, etc, etc?  Is that your solution for older adults and those with compromised immune systems?  “Protecting the most vulnerable” seems to be a stock phrase that we hear again and again, but no one really describes what that “protection” entails.

我妻子和我都70多岁了。去年12月，我妻子被诊断出患有乳腺癌，现在是她接受化疗的第三个月。由于她接受的治疗以及年龄，我妻子显然属于“最脆弱”的一类，所有直接的“开放者”承诺，我妻子这些“最脆弱”的人将受到他们重新开放美国计划的保护。我们已经在原地躲了三个多月了。所以我想问那些承诺保护“最脆弱群体”的人一个问题，你们究竟打算如何保护像我妻子这样的人?只是在你与家人去餐馆，去购物，到发廊剪头发等等的时候，我妻子这些人却要被更多地隔离在家吗?难道这就是你们针对老年人和免疫系统缺损者的解决方案吗?“保护最脆弱的人”看起来要成为我们反复听到的老生常谈了，但没人能真正说出这种“保护”包含什么切实可行的内容。

LT

ChicagoMay 5

Times Pick

"You can tell the size of a man by the size of the things that make him mad."

- Adlai Stevenson

No President has ever been enraged by smaller things than Donald Trump. No President has ever been as small as Donald Trump in every important sense of the word.

As we crossed 70,000 dead Americans, Donald Trump was up late. He was not worrying how to keep the number of dead Americans from hitting 100,000 by the end of the month. He was rage tweeting because a group of sane and disgusted Republican who are part of the "Lincoln Project" released an ad "There’s mourning in America." holding the President accountable for his utter failure to protect Americans.

Today, while 2,200 more Americans died. Donald Trump was still rage tweeting and boasting about his election win. He spent his time calling George Conway names.

100,000 dead, 200,000? 300,000?  Is there ANY number of dead Americans that will cause Donald Trump to feel an ounce of empathy? To motivate him to do his job?

The answer is obvious.  You could surround the White House with dead Americans stacked 200 feet high and Donald Trump would feel nothing.  Nothing except anger at criticism  he saw on TV or in a tweet.

THAT is our President, the ever shrinking Donald Trump, the smallest man to ever sit in the oval office.

“你可以根据令一个人发疯的事情的大小，来衡量其人格的大小。”

——阿德莱史蒂文森

没有哪位总统比唐纳德·特朗普更容易被小事激怒了。在所有重要的意义上，从来没有哪位总统像唐纳德·特朗普那般渺小。

美国虽然已经死了七万多人，但特朗普依然起得很晚。他并不担心如何在本月底前阻止美国死亡人数达到10万人。他在推特上大发雷霆，是因为一群理智而令人讨厌的共和党人，他们是“林肯计划”的成员，发布了一则“美国在哀悼”的广告，指责总统完全没能保护好美国人。

今天，又有2200名美国人死亡。唐纳德·特朗普还在推特上大发雷霆，吹嘘自己赢得大选。他还花时间辱骂乔治·康威。

死10万人，或者20万？还是30万？究竟要死多少美国人才会触动唐纳德·特朗普一丝同情之心?才能刺激他做好本职工作?

答案显而易见。就算白宫周围堆满了200英尺高的死人，唐纳德·特朗普也不会有任何感觉。除了对他在电视上或推特上看到的批评感到愤怒，他什么感觉都没有。

这就是我们的总统，日渐萎缩的唐纳德·特朗普，椭圆形办公室里有史以来最渺小的人。

Red Sox, ‘04, ‘07, ‘13, ‘18

BostonMay 5

I think, Mr. Friedman, America is sliding inevitably back into the morass toward which Donald Trump promised to direct us. He's more than halfway there.

From a political standpoint, we are, and have been, immune to electing representatives to strengthen the social contract and to work for the greater good for the greatest number without the majority's weaponizing its advantages and terrorizing those on the outside.

The sainted Ronald Reagan told America that government is a crutch for the unlucky and the undesirable. No need to ask who they are.

After World war II, we lifted up most of a broken world because we weren't immune to order and decency and progress. But soon, because of Republican "governance," we slowly became immune to research in sciences and medicine and learning in general. We defunded education.

We remained as hostile to social justice as we were prior to Brown vs. Topeka (1954). A Christian nation inoculated itself against the teachings and tenets of its creed. Immunity.

Four years ago, America became immune to common sense and begged to be "led" by a man of no discernible moral compass; of no visible conception of goodness; and of no demonstrable example of commercial success. Donald Trump, was, however, the apogee of hatred and intolerance and division. He would not have been elected if 63-million Americans had not readied themselves to welcome him with open arms.

We soiled our very nest, our home. Our America.

Something no animal ever does.

弗里德曼先生，我认为，美国正不可避免地滑向唐纳德·特朗普承诺要引导我们走向的泥潭。他已经成功一半了。

从政治的角度看，我们现在和过去加强社会契约都不受选举代表的影响，以此为大多数的人争取更大利益，而不是让大多数人把自己的优势武器化，让此外的人感到恐惧。

德高望重的罗纳德里根告诉美国，政府是不幸和不受欢迎的人的拐杖。没必要问他们是谁。

圣人罗纳德里根告诉美国，政府是不幸的和不受欢迎的人的拐杖。不必问他们是谁。

第二次世界大战后，我们撑起了大部分的支离破碎的世界，因为我们躲不掉维持秩序、尊严和进步的责任。但很快，由于共和党的“执政”，我们慢慢地对科学、医学的研究，以及一般的学习产生了免疫力。我们从教育中抽离了资金。

我们仍然对社会公正怀有敌意，就像我们在1954年布朗诉托皮卡案之前那样。一个基督教国家，却使自己免受教义和信条的影响。

（译注：布朗诉托皮卡教育局案是美国历史上一个非常重要、具有指标意义的诉讼案。该案于1954年5月17日判决种族隔离本质上就是一种不平等。因为此案及其判决，美国社会中存在已久的、白人和黑人必须分别就读不同公立学校的种族隔离现象才得以终止。）

四年前，美国开始对常识免疫，竟然乞求被一个没有明确道德方向的人“领导”；他既乏明显的善的概念；也没有明显的商业成功的例证。然而，唐纳德·特朗普却是仇恨、不宽容和分裂的极端代表。如果6300万美国人没有准备好张开双臂欢迎他，他就不会当选。

我们败坏了我们的巢穴，我们的家，我们的美利坚！

这些是连动物都不会去做的事情。

silver bullet

VirginiaMay 5

Dumb-as-we-wanna-be is also epitomized by the nut job who shot and killed a security guard at a Walmart because he refused to allow him and his wife to enter the store without a mask. The man said the guard "disrespected" his wife as his excuse for murder. Americans have become mean, selfish, stubborn, angry, incompetent and uncaring. These adjectives describe exactly how this president is and what America has become under his stewardship. America is not great right now. America has become a hornets nest of angry, buzzing and stinging citizens, always on the attack, threatening to outsiders because of their virulent tribalism. America is now a microcosm of this administration and its dysfunctional president, a country unhappy with itself.

This president will never make America great because he has made it mean, intolerant and clannish, where only certain people, "real Americans" are welcome. He has succeeded grandly in making America immune alright, but from a once-envious global community that may relish the great USA getting a deserved comeuppance, from its own president.

我们想成为哑巴现象，也成为一个疯子抢劫案的缩影，他在沃尔玛枪杀了一名保安，因为保安拒绝让他和他妻子不戴口罩进入商场。那家伙说保安“不尊重”他妻子，以此作为他谋杀的借口。美国人变得刻薄、自私、固执、愤怒、无能和漠不关心。这些形容词准确地描述了这位总统是怎样的人，以及在他的领导下美国已经变成了什么样。美国现在并不伟大。美国已经变成一个愤怒、嗡嗡叫和激进公民的黄蜂窝，他们总是在攻击，并由于其恶毒的部落主义而威胁到外人。本届政府及其功能失调的总统是现在美国的缩影，一个对自己不满的国家。

这位总统永远不会让美国变得伟大，因为他让美国变得卑鄙、偏狭和排他化，只有某些“真正的美国人”才受到欢迎。他已经成功地让美国免疫了，但却是从一个曾经令人羡慕的、可以享受伟大美国的全球化社会，到得到应得的惩罚，而这都是自己总统的功劳。

NM

NYMay 5

How I wish that President Obama were in the White House now.  Not only would he, as president, be responsible, he would also be surrounded by worthy people.  Not the likes of Jared Kushner.  Scientists would not be talked over.  We could trust what we were hearing from the entire administration and could feel confident that our president would guide us through these uncharted waters.  If only...

我多么希望奥巴马总统现在在白宫。作为总统，他不仅负责任，而且围绕在其身边的都是有才能的人。而不是像贾里德·库什纳那种货色。科学家是不会被说服的。我们可以相信整个政府所说的话，也可以相信我们的总统会带领我们渡过这些未知的水域。要是这样的话多好……

DB Cooper

Portland ORMay 5

There is no longer any collective sense of "a people"  in this country. And the division started under Dubya, who spoke of Massachusetts derivisely, as if its residents were not "real" Americans. Then as a president who did not win the majority of votes, he ruled as if he'd won by landslide. Only his constituents mattered.

Now we have a "president" who lost the popular vote by far more than Dubya, and he makes absolutely no pretense of representing all of us. He "takes care of" his Republican buddies, and the Red states. The rest of us aren't "nice enough" to him, even though we are the majority.

Democrats want a nation in which everyone, regardless of background or creed, has an equal opportunity to succeed. Democrats believe in a strong public education system. Democrats believe in the separation of church and state. Democrats believe that health care is a right and not a privilege of the well to do. And Democrats believe in facts, science, and evidence.

Trump voters believe in none of these things. They believe that as whites, they are the only "real" Americans, and the rest of us should accept the scraps of second class citizenship. Trump voters blithely discard facts, science and evidence, in favor of their Christian Shariah version of reality. So is Trump's reckless response to this horrific pandemic any surprise in this context?

Of course not. Trump voters have the America they want. And the rest of us are nothing but collateral damage to their sick agenda.

这个国家不再有“一个民族”的集体意识。这种分裂是在小布什的领导下开始的，他在谈到马萨诸塞州时，就好像这里的居民不是“真正的”美国人一样。然后作为一个没有赢得大多数选票的总统，他的统治就像他以绝对优势获胜一样。似乎只有他的支持者才重要。

现在我们有了一位“总统”，他在普选中失去的票数远远超过了小布什，他绝对不会假装代表我们所有人。他只“照顾”其共和党小伙伴，以及红州。我们其他人对他“不够好”，尽管我们是大多数。

民主党希望国家里的每一个人，无论背景或信仰如何，都有平等的机会获得成功。民主党人相信强大的公共教育体系。民主党人信奉政教分离。民主党人认为，医疗保健是一项权利，而不是富人的特权。民主党人信奉事实、科学和证据。

特朗普的拥趸不相信这些事情。他们认为，作为白人，他们是唯一“真正”的美国人，我们其他人应该接受二等公民的残羹剩饭。特朗普拥趸们轻松加愉快地抛弃了事实、科学和证据，转而支持他们的基督教伊斯兰教义版本的现实。那么在这种情况下，特朗普对这场可怕的流行病的鲁莽反应有什么意外的吗？

当然不意外。特朗普拥趸拥有他们想要的美国。而我们其他人除了是他们病态议程的附带伤害者外，啥都不是。

Tom Wanamaker

Neenah, WIMay 5

"This erosion of our collective societal immunity has been fed by many sources over the years, but none more than a Republican Party that has simply jumped the tracks"

It's nice to see a journalist state the plain truth without saying, "the Democratic Party does it too" in order to seem evenhanded. 

Ever since Reagan stated, "...the Government IS the problem," it has been Republican orthodoxy to disparage government scientists, economists, ecologists, sociologists, public health officials and by extension, any profession associated with these disciplines.

We are now reaping the results of this disregard for professionalism and expertise.

“多年来，这种对我们的集体社会免疫力的削弱来自很多方面，但最严重的莫过于完全脱轨的共和党。”

很高兴看到一位记者陈述了简单的事实，没有为了显得公平而说，“民主党也这样做”。

自从里根说:“……政府是问题所在，”贬低政府科学家、经济学家、生态学家、社会学家、公共卫生官员，乃至与这些学科相关的任何职业，一直是共和党的正统做法。

我们现在正在饱尝这种无视专业精神和专业知识的苦果。

Bob

Hudson ValleyMay 5

"This erosion of our collective societal immunity has been fed by many sources over the years, but none more than a Republican Party that has simply jumped the tracks."

Exactly. There is correlation between the decline of the ability of the US to function as a society and the rise the far right, There are many milestones along the way as the US has unraveled compared with its former self. One place to start is Barry Goldwater. Also Ayn Rand. What followed was Ronald Reagan, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, Newt Gingrich, the Tea Party, and here we are now with Donald Trump. In a two-party system when one party jumps the tracks things come crashing down. The poor federal response to the coronavirus is clear evidence of the sad fate of the US created by the rise of the far right.

“多年来，这种对我们的集体社会免疫力的削弱来自很多方面，但最严重的莫过于完全脱轨的共和党。”

美国社会运作能力的下降，与极右翼势力的崛起之间存在关联。在这一过程中，美国出现了许多里程碑式的事件，与之前的美国相比，如今的美国已经分崩离析。我们可以从巴里•戈德华特开始，艾茵·兰德，接下来是罗纳德·里根、拉什·林堡、福克斯新闻、纽特·金里奇、茶党，而现在我们又和唐纳德·特朗普绑在一起。在两党体制下，当一方脱轨时，问题就会很严重。联邦政府对冠状病毒的糟糕应对，清楚地证明了极右翼势力的崛起给美国带来的悲惨命运。

David decoste

CanadaMay 6

@H Pearle sadly I am not sure many Trump supporters know what democracy is. Democracy is not protesting with guns, screaming into the faces of policemen, pushing a park ranger into water, or doing whatever I want. Democracy is not about ME it is all about WE and too many in America today are focused on me. When I was younger I saw America as the most caring, welcoming society in the world. It was the protector of the vulnerable, the centre of innovation, the model for the world. How can it restore this image?

佩尔不幸的是，我不知道很多特朗普的支持者是否知道什么是民主。民主不是用枪抗议，不是对着警察大喊大叫，不是把公园管理员推下水，也不是为所欲为。民主不仅仅是关于“我”，而是关于“我们”，今天美国有太多的人只关心“我”。当我年轻的时候，我认为美国是世界上最有爱心、最受欢迎的社会。它是弱势群体的保护者，是创新的中心，是世界的楷模。如何才能恢复这一景象呢？

stan continople

brooklynMay 5

How much of our current morass, the ignorance, the sniping, the tribalism, is because of income inequality? Everyone now is left fighting over the scraps and feels as if they're on their own. Even Mr. Friedman's beloved trope of "lifelong learning", just to keep your head above water, is a testimony to this miserable state of affairs. Thanks to 40 years of "Reaganism", people regard the "enemy" as not the invisible capitalists, but their neighbors and the most vulnerable. The GOP would have us believe that this  Social Darwinism "builds character"; even the prospect of minimum wage workers earning a few dollars more while they wait out the pandemic sends their plutocratic masters into a frenzy but it just serves to keep the heat off the real malefactors. When an Amazon VP just quit because he felt that Jeff Bezos treated humans as "fungible units", he could have applied that to the virulence of American capitalism in general.

我们现在一团糟的困境、无知愚昧、流言蜚语、部落主义，有多少是因为收入不平等？现在每个人都在为残羹剩饭而战，感觉就像他们只能靠自己。就连弗里德曼先生所钟爱的“终生学习”的比喻——只是为了让你的脑子不进水，也证明了这种悲惨的状况。多亏了40年的“里根主义”的影响，人们不再把看不见的资本家视为“敌人”，而是视他们的邻居和最脆弱的群体为敌。共和党让我们相信，这种社会达尔文主义“塑造了性格”；即使领着最低工资的工人在等待大流行结束时多赚几美元的预期，也会让他们的财阀老板们抓狂不已。当一位亚马逊的副总裁不满杰夫·贝佐斯把人类当作“可替代的单位”而辞职时，他本可以把这句话应用到整个美国资本主义的毒害上。

Steve Ell

Burlington, VermontMay 5

The first step toward immunity must be removal of the malignancy in the Oval Office.

The prevaricating obstruction is a major roadblock on the highway to vaccine and treatment. he’s still pushing hydroxychloroquine for goodness sake!

How could a single organism be so destructive? I’m talking about trump.

迈向免疫的第一步，必须是清除椭圆形办公室里的那坨恶性肿瘤。

推诿性阻碍是研发疫苗和治疗病毒的高速路上的主要障碍。天哪，这家伙还在推销羟化氯喹！

一个生物怎么会有如此大的破坏性？我说的是特朗普。

BBH

South FloridaMay 5

@ Red Sox.....Excellent letter. Bravo. Remember to vote Blue no matter who in November.

学识渊博。好极了。不管是谁，别忘了11月都要投蓝党。

(译注：蓝色代指民主党，特朗普所在的共和党是红色)

Joseph Taylor

Suburban MarylandMay 5

“And what are we now? We’re mean. We’re selfish. We’re stubborn and sometimes even incompetent. … It seems like some of these other countries almost feel sorry for us. … We can’t get out of our own way. … There’s no leadership and no solidarity, so everybody’s doing whatever they want … which means everyone who’s vulnerable is losing big.”

-- Gloria Jackson, Minnesota

There it is. Plain. Unvarnished. Absolutely true.

The United States must not tolerate another four years of this presidency.  Pray sanity rules at the polls this November.

“我们现在是什么？我们很刻薄。我们很自私。我们固执，有时甚至无能……似乎其他一些国家为我们感到难过。我们不能脱离自己的路线。没有领导，也没有团结，所以每个人都想做什么就做什么……这意味着每个脆弱的人都损失惨重。”

--格洛丽亚·杰克逊，明尼苏达州

就是这样。朴实无华，不加修饰，绝对正确。

美国决不能再容忍现任这位总统再连任四年。祈祷今年十一月的投票结果能是理智的。

Marge Keller

MidwestMay 5

Every word in this article is solid and on point.

But if this country is to get a thorough overhaul come November, the president is not the only person who needs to go.  Mitch McConnell must be escorted out the pantry door as well because both have created and allowed more damage to this country to occur than we saw since my good pal, Ronald Reagan, was president.

这篇文章每一个字都很中肯。

但如果这个国家要在11月进行彻底改革，总统并不是唯一应该滚蛋的人。米奇·麦康奈尔（译注：参议院多数党领袖）也必须被礼送回家，因为这俩货对国家造成的伤害，比罗纳德·里根当总统以来我们所看到的都要多。

Jesse Kramer

SacramentoMay 5

We must accept the fact that the USA is a failed state in all the ways that matter in the 21st Century.

I suggest reading this:

https://johnmenadue.com/fintan-otoole-donald-trump-has-destroyed-the-country-he-promised-to-make-great-again-irish-times-25-4-2020/

Our national prognosis as a functional constitutional republic is guarded at best.

我们必须接受这样一个事实:21世纪的美国在各个方面都是一个失败的国家。

我建议读一下这个:

（链接文章标题：唐纳德特朗普摧毁了他承诺要让其再次变得伟大的国家。

该文摘译：两个多世纪以来，美国在世界其他地方激起了广泛的情感:爱与恨、恐惧与希望、嫉妒与轻蔑、敬畏与愤怒。但迄今为止，有一种情感从未指向美国:可怜。）

我们作为一个功能性宪政共和国的国家前景，充其量只能进行保守的估计。

Michael Sklar

Red Bank, NJMay 6

I have a sneaking suspicion that when a vaccine is finally approved and distributed in the USA, it will be produced by a pharmaceutical company in which this president (and possibly his close associates) have a vested financial interest. There will be lots of praise - especially self-praise - by trump and those around him, who have reaped great monetary rewards from the production of this vaccine.

我暗地里怀疑，当一种疫苗终获批准并在美国分发时，它将由一家与我们这位总统（也可能是他的亲信）有利益勾连的制药公司生产。特朗普和他周围那些从这种疫苗生产中获得了巨大金钱回报的人，将会对疫苗大加赞扬，尤其是特朗普还要自我表扬。

Victor James

Los AngelesMay 6

@LT

And 45% of Americans still approve of Trump.  No country can survive when close to half the people have lost their minds.

45%的美国人仍然支持特朗普。当接近一半的人失去理智时，任何国家都无法幸免于难。

Pheddup

CAMay 6

@The Dude Yes, my 82-year-old mother told me today she believes she will never travel again and likely never leave her house except for serious medical appointments. This breaks my heart.

是的，我82岁的母亲今天告诉我，她认为自己再也不会出门旅行了，除非去看医生，否则她很可能再也不会出门了。这让我心碎。

Parker

NYMay 6

It’s beyond chilling when he speaks of the number of dead. He could be talking about chickens, or oranges, or ventilators. There’s zero connection, if anything he seems annoyed. Lately he inserts his prefab “even one is too many” line to try to sound human. Doesn’t work.

他一提到死亡人数就让人不寒而栗。听上去他就像在说鸡，桔子，或者呼吸机一样淡漠。如果说有什么让他看起来生气的话，也跟死亡人数毫无关联。最近，他在话中插入了预先设计好的台词——“即使死一个人也太多”，试图让自己听起来有点人情味。但已经于事无补。

Chris

Sydney, AustraliaMay 5

The first part of the article hits the nail on the head.  To put it simply, America has chosen to funnel a massive proportion of its resources into its military and to the 1%, all the while knowing full well exactly how tenuous an existence half the population was living. 

What did you think the outcome of an event like this was going to be?

这篇文章的第一部分一针见血。简而言之，美国选择将大部分资源投入到军事和1%的人身上，同时也非常清楚地知道其半数人口的生活是何其脆弱。

你认为这种事将会有怎样的后果？

IWaverly

Falls Church, VAMay 6

Whether the tide goes in or out, the naked stand in full view whether we look at them or choose not to. 

Let's start with the basics. Day in and day out, we extol our system of government, our division of power. We have even a Madison Avenue catch name for it: A system of Checks and Balances.

But what's the ground reality? A habitual lawbreaker president comes along who openly berates the judiciary and declares war on the legislative branch. He not only gets away with each act of defiance but actually becomes emboldened with every breach.  

Our 17 intelligence agencies unanimously inform us that Russia did interfere in our elections. More recently, even a bipartisan committee of the Senat endorses their findings, but what does this president do? He keeps slandering the FBI and the CIA, with the active support of a roguish AG who insists on impugning and investigating the investigators.

What happened to our celebrated rule of law?

Aren't we the proud inhabitants of the land of the free and the brave? How many of our Dr. Brights come out to inform the country of the level of corruption going on behind closed doors? How many have quit their jobs in protest?

Trump and his nondoctor buddies on Fox News feel free to promote the use of disinfectants and unapproved medicines, while our experts and the rest of us suffer the fools in silence. 

When would we start behaving, well, as proud Americans, not the bonded serfs of a banana republic?

无论涨潮还是退潮，无论我们看还是不看，裸体者都处于众目睽睽之下。

让我们从基本的开始，我们日复一日地颂扬我们的政府制度，以及我们的权利分配制度。我们甚至有一个麦迪逊大道的别名：制衡系统。

但现实是什么呢？一个惯于触犯法律的总统出现了，他公开指责司法系统，并向立法部门宣战。他不仅每一次挑衅法律的行为都逃脱了惩罚，而且在每一次违法中都变得更加大胆。

我们17个情报机构一致告知我们，俄罗斯确实干预了我们的选举。最近，甚至连参议院的一个两党委员会都认可了他们的调查结果，但这位总统是怎么做的呢?他一直在诽谤联邦调查局和中央情报局，并得到了一个流氓总检察长的积极支持，这位总检察长坚持要对调查人员进行非难和调查。

我们为人所称道的法治究竟出了什么问题？

我们不是自由和勇敢之地的骄傲居民吗？我们有多少“光明博士”出来告诉这个国家暗地里的腐败程度有多严重?有多少人辞职以示抗议?

特朗普和他在福克斯新闻频道的非医生朋友们，可以随意推销使用消毒剂和未经批准的药物，而我们的专家和其他人则默默忍受着这些蠢货。

作为骄傲的美国人，而不是香蕉共和国的奴隶，我们什么时候才能开始行动？

Prometheus

Caucasus MountainsMay 5

"Hell is truth seen too late."

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

“地狱乃真相，省时恨太迟。”

托马斯·霍布斯《利维坦》