一場選舉鏖戰留下的困惑
Whoever wins the US presidential election, two questions are going to haunt me for years to come.
無論最終是誰贏得此次美國總統選舉，有兩個問題將在日後若干年繼續困擾我。
How did Hillary Clinton go from being rated as the most admired woman that Americans have heard about or read about, living in any part of the world, in the words of an annual Gallup poll that she has topped for the past 14 years, to being equated with the disgraced Richard Nixon?
希拉里.克林頓(Hillary Clinton)怎麼就從美國人聽說過或讀到過的全世界最受敬佩的女性（用蓋洛普(Gallup)一份希拉里過去14年一直蟬聯榜首的年度調查的話來說），落到被拿來與名譽掃地的理查德.尼克松(Richard Nixon)相提並論的境地？
And how did Donald Trump, her opponent, go from a history of corporate bankruptcies that made others pay the cost of his business failures, and from a record of racial discrimination, exploiting illegal labour, and predatory behaviour towards women, to being a viable candidate for the presidency of the US?
而她的對手唐納德.特朗普(Donald Trump)，又是如何從一個多次公司破產並連累他人爲自己的經營失敗買單的商人，從一個種族歧視、剝削非法勞工、佔女性便宜的慣犯，變成了有切實可能性當上美國總統的候選人？
One answer is that Mr Trump ascended through the media, not a political party or election.
一個答案是，特朗普的崛起靠的是媒體、而不是政黨或選舉。
He was a brand, not a person, a shiny gold name on buildings, even if he did not build them, and a boss on television, even if he merely insulted and roared.
他是一個品牌，而不是一個人；是大樓上一塊閃亮的金字招牌，哪怕這些大樓不是他建的；是電視上的老大，哪怕他只是在謾罵和咆哮。
During the presidential primaries, for instance, he received an estimated $2bn in free exposure from corporate media in search of ratings to attract advertising — which may be the best argument for subscription-financed media, public television, investigative reporting and the simple act of fact checking.
例如在黨內初選階段，一心想提高收視率以吸引廣告的公司媒體(corporate media)給了他價值約20億美元的免費上鏡時間——這可能是支持付費訂閱媒體、公共電視、調查性報道以及事實覈查這一簡單舉動的最佳理由。
Another reason is that even-handed coverage has created a false equivalence.
另一個原因是一碗水端平的報道製造了一個虛假的對等。
Each negative question to Mr Trump was balanced by one to Hillary Clinton, and any positive about her was matched by one about him.
提給特朗普的每一個負面問題都要用提給希拉里的一個負面問題來平衡，有關希拉里的任何一條正面報道也要配以關於特朗普的一條正面報道。
Thus, he was artificially elevated, while she became subject to doubt.
特朗普就這樣被人爲地擡高了，而希拉里卻成了人們質疑的對象。
Also, in polls about why Americans support him, many equated being rich with being smart enough to run a country.
此外，在關於爲什麼美國人支持特朗普的民調中，許多人認爲富有就等於聰明到足以治理一個國家。
In fact, Mr Trump would have been richer if he had just put his inheritance in an index fund tracking the stock market.
事實上，如果特朗普當初將他繼承到的財產投入一支追蹤股票市場的指數基金，他會比現在更富有。
I can think of only one example that is anything like this maddening race.
我只能想到一個例子與這場令人抓狂的競選多少有些類似。
In 2004, John Kerry, a hero of the Vietnam war and a candidate for the presidency, was attacked in television commercials that called into question his heroism as a Swift boat captain.
2004年，越戰英雄、總統候選人約翰.克里(John Kerry)在一系列電視廣告中遭到攻擊，這些廣告使得他擔任快艇船長時的英雄事蹟受到質疑。
Those ads were later discredited, but they sank his candidacy.
雖然後來證實這些廣告不足取信，但它們讓他的競選泡了湯。
Swiftboating entered the language as a word that meant attacking strength rather than weakness.
快艇攻擊(Swiftboating)成了固定用語，意思是攻擊長處而不是短處。
Clearly, Hillary Clinton has been swiftboated.
顯然，希拉里一直遭受着快艇攻擊。
According to the fact-checking website Politifact, for instance, she is more honest than any of her 2016 opponents, yet Mr Trump attacks her as Crooked Hillary.
舉個例子，根據事實覈查網站Politifact，她比2016年大選中的任何一個對手都更加誠實，卻依然被特朗普攻擊爲不誠實的希拉里。
He is rated as accurate only 4 per cent of the time, yet he calls her more corrupt than any other presidential candidate and insists that, if elected, she should be impeached.
在該網站針對特朗普言論所做的158次事實覈查中，他的言論只有4次準確反映了事實，然而他卻說希拉里比任何其他總統候選人更腐敗，並堅稱如果自己當選，希拉里應該被控告。
Mr Trump believes in the big lie: if a falsehood is big enough, and told often enough, it will win out.
特朗普對大謊言有信心，即：如果一個謊言足夠大，重複足夠多次，最終就會戰勝真理。
Despite all this, I find it pointless to get angry at Mr Trump himself.
儘管如此，我覺得生特朗普本人的氣毫無意義。
He is locked into his own self-obsession and condemned to look for an ever more grandiose stage.
他已陷入自我迷戀無法自拔，註定要不斷尋找更宏大的舞臺。
It is his fervent supporters such as Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York, and his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, who will not be taken seriously in the future.
未來不會被當一回事的將是他的狂熱支持者，如前紐約市長魯道夫.朱利亞尼(Rudolph Giuliani)，以及他的競選經理凱莉安妮.康韋(Kellyanne Conway)。
Mr Trump may not have a choice, but American voters do.
特朗普可能沒有選擇，但美國選民有。
If Hillary Clinton survives this campaign that has so distorted who she is and always has been, she will stand for women’s rights as human rights; for economic ties and in-depth diplomacy; for women as peace negotiators; for an administration that looks like the country; and for a foreign policy that considers the status of women in other countries.
這場選舉已嚴重歪曲了現在和一直以來那個真實的希拉里，如果她能最終取勝，她將支持女性權利爲人權；支持經濟聯繫和深度外交；支持女性做和平談判者；支持美國政府拿出與美國相稱的樣子；支持考慮他國女性地位的外交政策。
As David Gergen, an adviser to four US presidents of both parties, has said, to empower women . . . would do so much to advance the world, but it would also restore America’s moral standing.
正如曾爲兩黨四位總統擔任顧問的戴維.格根(David Gergen)所說：讓女性更有力量……不但會極大促進世界發展，還將恢復美國的道德地位。
If we elect a woman as our national leader for the first time in the history of the republic, eight years after electing an African-American man, we may be moving toward democracy at last.
如果繼八年前我們選出一名非裔美國人總統之後，我們又選出合衆國有史以來首位女性總統，我們可能終於開始走向民主。
