If Donald Trump loses the White House to Joe Biden in November, one thought is liable to disturb his sleep ever after. No one has gone to such extreme and impeachable lengths to dig out the former vice-president’s ethical liabilities. And yet no one has done more to make them appear so banal. Had the US president not contributed so lavishly to the debasement of public life, Mr Biden’s fabulist tendencies might disturb more voters than they seem to. So might the vexed question of his son Hunter. As it is, neither kind of baggage is weighing down his surge in the Democratic primaries.
如果唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)在今年11月的总统大选中输给乔•拜登(Joe Biden)，一种想法可能会让他从此睡不好觉。从没有人如此不遗余力地挖掘这位前副总统的道德过错，甚至不惜采取可被弹劾的手段。然而，正是特朗普的所作所为使拜登的这些过错显得无足轻重了。如果这位美国总统没有为公共生活质量的降低做出如此慷慨的贡献，拜登的屡屡说谎可能会令比现在更多的选民感到不安。他的儿子亨特(Hunter)这个棘手的问题可能也是如此。而现在，这两件包袱都没有影响到他在民主党初选中的强劲势头。