Historical sensibility tells us it is the barbarians who storm the gates. In today’s America, it is the other way round. Inside the citadel, the hordes are incinerating America’s traditions of law, civility and restraint. The civic-minded cry in the wilderness. Measured by the old era’s conventions, US President Donald Trump’s bonfire is only a quarter of the way through. Like so much else — the US Institute of Peace, the Kennedy Center, the Versailles-style White House ballroom, other people’s Nobel Prizes — Trump is rebranding the US as his own. As America prepares to commemorate its 250th anniversary, the republic is flirting with its own funeral.
历史直觉告诉我们，只有蛮族才会攻破我们的城门。而在当今的美国，情况恰恰相反。在城堡内部，野蛮人正在焚毁美国的法治、文明和克制传统；具有公民意识的人则在荒野中哭泣。以旧时代的标准衡量，美国总统唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)的这堆篝火才烧了四分之一。就像对待其他许多事物——美国和平研究所(US Institute of Peace)、肯尼迪中心(Kennedy Center)、凡尔赛风格的白宫宴会厅、他人的诺贝尔奖——一样，特朗普正在用他个人的品牌重新包装美国。就在美国准备纪念建国250周年之际，这个共和国却彷佛在安排自己的葬礼。