特朗普的權力遊戲 Donald Trump, presidential hopeful
In the preface to How to Get Rich, one of Donald Trump’s self-help manuals, he reminds us there are “countless how-to-get-rich books” by millionaires. Authors with extra zeros to their name are far less common. “Billionaires with their own Manhattan skyscrapers and hit primetime TV series are the rarest of all,” Mr Trump writes. “Don’t let the brevity of these passages prevent you from savouring the profundity of the advice you are about to receive.”
在唐納德礠朗普(Donald Trump)的其中一本自助指南《如何致富》(How to Get Rich)的序言中，他提醒我們市面上有“無數本如何致富的書”由百萬富翁撰寫。名下財富跟着更多個零的作者則遠沒有那麼常見。“在曼哈頓擁有自己的摩天大樓和黃金時段熱門電視連續節目的億萬富翁則是最稀有的，”特朗普寫道：“不要讓本書的簡短段落妨礙你品味書中建議的深刻道理。”
There, in a sentence, is the essence of the self-dubbed “Trumpster” — boastful, shameless, childlike and (to millions of Americans) irresistible. It also includes his core pitch for becoming the next president of the United States. He is rich. He is smart. And he marries beautiful women. What else do you need to know?
這一句話彰顯了這位自稱“Trumpster”的人的本質——自誇、不知廉恥、幼稚，而且（對數百萬美國人來說）令人無法抗拒。這句話也包含了他競選下一任美國總統的核心賣點。他很富有。他很聰明。他娶到了不止一位美麗的女人。你還需要知道什麼？
Quite a lot, to judge by the terror he has sown in the Republican establishment over the past three weeks. Just last month, when Mr Trump launched his campaign from the Trump Tower in Manhattan, it was hard to find anyone in Washington who took him seriously. Now leading a crowded Republican field of 16 candidates with almost a quarter of those polled, the Donald (another favoured moniker) is a mortal threat to the party’s electability.
從過去3周他在共和黨體制內人士圈子中引起的恐懼來判斷，我們需要知道的事情還不少。上月特朗普在曼哈頓特朗普大樓(Trump Tower)發起競選活動時，華盛頓沒什麼人把他當一回事。而現在，以近四分之一的民調支持率，唐納德（他的另一個愛稱）在有16名候選人的擁擠的共和黨角逐場上領跑，對該黨的可當選性構成了致命威脅。
With talk of Mr Trump, 69, running as a third-party candidate should the Republicans spurn him in the primaries, he could even be Hillary Clinton’s ticket to the White House. Much as Ross Perot split the Republican vote in 1992 and helped deliver the presidency to Bill Clinton, an independent Mr Trump could destroy Republican chances in 2016.
如果共和黨在初選階段把他拒之門外，現年69歲的特朗普可能以第三方候選人的身份發起競選，他甚至有可能成爲希拉裏克林頓(Hillary Clinton)問鼎白宮的跳板。就像1992年羅斯槧壞(Ross Perot)分走共和黨的選票，“幫助”比爾克林頓(Bill Clinton)當選總統一樣，一個獨立競選的特朗普可能會毀滅共和黨在2016年大選中勝出的機會。
“Nobody has figured out how to respond to him,” says Vin Weber, a Republican veteran, who is informally advising Jeb Bush’s campaign. “There is something about his braggadocio, and his willingness to denigrate rivals, that is fuelling his popularity. If he had a clear ideology then others would know how to react — but he doesn’t.”
“還沒有人想明白該怎麼對付他，”目前是傑布布什(Jeb Bush)競選活動非正式顧問的資深共和黨人文韋伯(Vin Weber)表示：“他的自吹自擂和他對競爭對手的放肆詆譭有某種東西，正在助推他的人氣。如果他有明確的意識形態，那麼其他人會知道該如何迴應——可他沒有。”
A few years ago Mr Trump supported single payer healthcare. Now he wants to abolish President Barack Obama’s semi-formed imitation of it. Likewise he has turned from pro-choice to anti-abortion.
幾年前，特朗普支持單一付款人醫保方案。現在他想要廢除巴拉克·奧巴馬(Barack Obama)總統已成型一半的模仿方案。同樣，他在墮胎問題上的立場從贊成自主選擇變成了反對。
He is also scathing about illegal immigrants, particularly from Mexico, whom he says are “killing us at the border” and “killing us on trade”. Most of all, however, he is against his Republican competitors. Some of them could not even find a job in the private sector, he says. “I went to the Wharton School of business,” Mr Trump often reminds people. “I’m, like, a really smart person.”
他對非法移民嚴加指責，尤其是來自墨西哥的非法移民，稱他們“在邊境上殺死我們”，而且“在貿易上殺死我們”。然而，他最反對的還是共和黨內的競爭對手們。他表示，其中一些人若是在私營部門將連工作都找不到。“我上過沃頓商學院(Wharton School of business)，”特朗普經常提醒人們，“我，像是，一個真正聰明的人。”
To judge by the fortune Mr Trump has amassed, which is probably a multiple of all his rivals combined, he has a point. The son of a well-off New York realtor, Mr Trump’s story is hardly one of rags to riches.
特朗普積累的財富很可能是他所有對手總和的數倍，從他積累的財富來評判，他的話的確有道理。作爲一個富有的紐約地產經紀人的兒子，特朗普的經歷很難稱得上是白手起家。
More a product of Queens than the outer burbs, he took up his father’s trade and converted it into gold. Along the way, he secured four deferments from the Vietnam draft, took a business masters degree and learned the intricacies of the Manhattan property market.
特朗普在更大程度上是紐約皇后區(Queens)——而非紐約遠郊——的產物。他接手了父親的生意，把它變成了一座金山。在人生道路上，他四次找理由躲過越戰兵役徵召，取得了一個商業碩士學位，並掌握了曼哈頓房地產市場的錯綜複雜之處。
By the 1980s his dexterity as a realtor, which now included casinos in Atlantic City, was exceeded only by his popularity with the tabloids. His first wife, Ivana, tried to take half his wealth in their divorce. His second, Marla, earned him perhaps his favourite headline when she complimented his “swordsmanship” in bed. His third, Melania, has co-hosted Miss USA, the television beauty pageant he created along with Miss Teen USA and Miss Universe. “I love beautiful women and beautiful women love me,” he said.
到上世紀80年代，能夠超過他作爲房地產經紀人（那時已包括大西洋城(Atlantic City)的賭場）的精明程度的，只有他在八卦小報上的人氣。他的第一任妻子伊萬娜(Ivana)在離婚時試圖分走一半的家產。第二任妻子馬拉(Marla)幫他贏得了或許是他最鍾愛的新聞標題——她讚美他在牀上的“劍術”。第三任妻子梅拉尼婭(Melania)與他一起主持了電視選美比賽“美國小姐”(Miss USA)，還有“美國妙齡小姐”(Miss Teen USA)和“環球小姐”(Miss Universe)。“我愛美女，美女們也愛我，”特朗普說。
By any measure, Mr Trump is the opposite of what Republican leaders seek in their nominee. Yet the more he pokes country club Republicans in the eye, the more popular he becomes with the angry rank and file.
從各個方面來看，特朗普都與共和黨領袖們所尋求的候選人背道而馳。然而，他越是成爲共和黨大佬們的眼中釘，他在憤怒的共和黨基層中的人氣就越高。
From the flashy skyscrapers to the “super luxury condominiums”, from the golf courses to the vineyards, Mr Trump’s sprawling empire is bound by one glue: his name brand. The same could be said of his campaign. It is one glorious ego trip. “Every day for Donald Trump on this campaign has been his birthday, Christmas Day and July fourth rolled into one,” says Frank Luntz, a leading Republican consultant, who recently moderated him at a gathering of presidential hopefuls. “He is having the time of his life. Why would he ever stop?”
從浮華的摩天大樓到“超豪華共管公寓”，從高爾夫球場到葡萄酒莊園，以他本人名字命名的品牌串起了一個龐大商業帝國。同樣的表述也適用於他的競選活動。這是一場自負意味十足的榮耀之旅。“對唐納德礠朗普來說，競選的每一天都像是生日、聖誕節和獨立日在同一天到來，”共和黨的一位主要顧問弗蘭克倫茨(Frank Luntz)表示，他最近主持了一場有特朗普在場的共和黨候選人集會，“他正度過一生中最快樂的時光。他怎麼可能會停止？”
What disturbs senior Republicans most is that he can afford to keep on going. With a net worth of between “TEN BILLION DOLLARS”, according to Mr Trump’s campaign (upper case included), and $2.3bn according to the lowest estimates, Mr Trump has more than enough to carry him to November 2016. A third party bid would cost about $200m.
最讓資深共和黨人頭疼的，是特朗普有財力繼續下去。據特朗普的競選團隊所說，其淨資產在“一百億美元”左右（其團隊特意用大寫字母強調“TEN BILLION DOLLARS”），而據最低估測，其淨資產也有23億美元。特朗普堅持到2016年11月綽綽有餘。第三方競選一般需要花費2億美元。
He is also impervious to scandal. “What the angry demographic loves about Trump is that he stokes and provokes the establishment but does way better than them,” says Mr Luntz. “He lives the lifestyle many of his supporters dream about.”
他也不受醜聞影響。“憤怒的人羣喜歡特朗普的一點是，他激怒和挑釁體制內人士，但又比那些人做得更好，”倫茨表示，“他的生活方式是他的許多支持者夢寐以求的。”
Among the latter, Mr Trump is best known for his hosting of The Apprentice, a television show in which he judged a group of about 16 business contestants who are competing for a $250,000 prize. He ended each episode by telling one of them: “You’re fired.”
對於他的支持者，特朗普最爲人所知的是他主持的電視節目《學徒》(The Apprentice)。在節目中，他要考察大約16名商業參賽者，最後挑出一人獲得25萬美元獎金。每期節目都以他告訴一位參賽者 “你被解僱了”收尾。
By coincidence, 16 is also the size of the Republican field. By the end of the series there was only one person left standing. Could politics be imitating reality TV?
巧合的是，共和黨總統候選人也有16位。在一系列環節以後，也只會有一個人留下。政治會不會模仿電視真人秀？
