The thing about grown-ups is they are supposed to say when enough is enough. Jim Mattis had obviously had enough when he resigned as Donald Trump’s secretary of defence in December. Now the retired general — and the former leading “adult” in Mr Trump’s administration — says he owes a “duty of silence” to the government in which he could no longer serve. Some attribute Mr Mattis’s coyness to the military code of honour — though he retired from the marines two years before Mr Trump picked him. Either way he joins a small army of people who could damage Mr Trump but have chosen not to.
成年人之所以被称为成年人，是因为他们知道分寸和底线。当吉姆•马蒂斯(Jim Mattis)去年12月辞去唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)的国防部长一职时，他显然早已经受够了。如今，这位退役将军（特朗普政府中曾经的头号“成年人”）表示，他对自己不再服务的政府负有“保持沉默的责任”。有人将马蒂斯的缄默归因于军人的荣誉准则——尽管在特朗普提名他时，他从海军陆战队退役已有两年了。总之，他加入了一小群体之列，这些人本可以揭特朗普的短，但选择不去这样做。