President Donald Trump has thrown the US government into crisis by accusing his predecessor, Barack Obama, of wiretapping his phones during the election campaign. That the accusation was made in an early-morning tweet does not make the situation any less serious. Nor does the fact that Mr Trump has tweeted nonsense in the past. His false claim that millions of people voted illegally in November’s election was not a direct and specific allegation against a sitting president. The sources of and evidence for this accusation against Mr Obama must now be established. If they are not, the claims can only have a corrosive effect on trust in the institutions of government, without which the country cannot function.
美国总统唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)指责其前任巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)在大选期间监听他的电话，此事令美国政府陷入危机。这份指控出现在特朗普凌晨发布的推文中，但这丝毫无损于情况的严肃性。同样无损于这一点的是：特朗普曾经在推文中胡说八道过。他曾错误地宣称数百万人在去年11月的大选中非法投票，但那并非针对一位在任总统的直接而具体的指控。现在必须确定针对奥巴马的这一指控的来源和证据。如果不确定这两点，那么这番言论只能破坏人们对政府体制的信任，没有这一体制，这个国家将无法运转。