It started with a bang. Democrats in the US were tripping over themselves at the start of this year to audition as their party’s chief Trump-slayer. Even the local dogcatcher could defeat Donald Trump, people joked. The field was the largest and most diverse in history — record numbers of women, non-whites, the first openly gay candidate, young aspirants and old. Among those still standing, few show signs of winning the hearts of a party that likes to fall in love, as the saying goes. It was Democrats, after all, who produced John F Kennedy and Barack Obama.
一开头挺热闹。今年年初的时候，美国民主党人争先恐后出来竞选本党的首席“弑特朗普者”(Trump-slayer)。人们开玩笑说，即使是当地的捕狗员都能击败唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)。民主党历史上从没有出现过这么多、且这么多元化的候选人——女性候选人数量创下纪录；有非白人候选人；有第一个公开的同性恋候选人；有年轻人，也有老人，都志在必得。如今在那些仍未退出这场竞赛的候选人中，几乎没有人表现出自己赢得了这个容易陷入爱河的政党的心（有一种说法是，在提名总统候选人时，民主党人跟随自己的心意，共和党人则论资排辈(When it comes to choosing their presidential nominees, Democrats fall in love while Republicans fall in line)——译者注）。毕竟，民主党是一个曾经选出约翰•F•肯尼迪(John F Kennedy)和巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)的政党。