特朗普大玩政治暴力 暗示刺客暗殺希拉里

American politics has long been conducted in the shadow of violence. Two of the country’s most celebrated presidents — Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy — were assassinated. During the 1968 presidential election campaign, Bobby Kennedy was also assassinated, five years after the killing of his brother and two months after the murder of Martin Luther King, the civil rights leader. Ronald Reagan was also shot and wounded in the early years of his presidency.

長期以來，美國政治一直籠罩在暴力的陰影下。美國最著名的總統中，有兩位遭到暗殺，他們是亞伯拉罕•林肯(Abraham Lincoln)和約翰•肯尼迪(John Kennedy)。1968年大選期間，博比•肯尼迪(Bobby Kennedy)也被暗殺，這起事件發生在他哥哥遭暗殺五年後、民權領袖馬丁•路德•金(Martin Luther King)被謀殺兩個月後。羅納德•里根(Ronald Reagan)在擔任總統初期也曾被人用槍打傷。

It is this history of political violence that makes Donald Trump’s suggestion that American gun owners could somehow stop Hillary Clinton so incendiary and dangerous. It is difficult to listen to the Republican nominee’s remarks and to regard them as anything other than an oblique, but unmistakable, suggestion that somebody might try to kill his Democratic rival rather than see her appoint liberal judges to the Supreme Court.

正是這種政治暴力史讓唐納德•特朗普(Donald Trump)的最新言論顯得如此具有煽動性和危險性。特朗普暗示，美國槍支持有者可以通過某種方式阻止希拉里•克林頓(Hillary Clinton)。在聽到這位共和黨總統候選人的言論後，我們只能把這些言論理解爲一種隱晦但確定無疑的暗示：某些人可以嘗試去殺死他的民主黨競爭對手，而不是眼看着她委任自由派人士爲美國最高法院(Supreme Court)法官。

The Trump campaign’s spin that he was merely appealing to “Second Amendment people” to get out and vote is unconvincing. The statement was made in the context of a discussion of how the US would look once Mrs Clinton had been elected and started appointing judges. There would, said Mr Trump, be “nothing you can do” — before musing aloud, “although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is”.

特朗普的競選團隊解釋說，他只是在呼籲《憲法第二修正案》的支持者們站出來投票。這種說法是不能令人信服的。特朗普是在討論一旦希拉里當選並開始任命法官、美國會怎樣的語境下發表上述言論的。特朗普表示，到那時“你們什麼都做不了”，然後他大聲說，“不過《憲法第二修正案》的支持者們或許會有辦法”。

The word “irresponsible” barely covers this latest outrageous statement. Mr Trump has already allowed an atmosphere of violence to fester around his campaign. He has encouraged supporters to beat up hecklers and said that he wanted to punch speakers at the Democratic convention, “so hard their heads would spin”. At the Republican convention, the Trump campaign had to disavow a delegate’s suggestion that Mrs Clinton should be “shot for treason”.

他這番駭人言論已不能用“不負責任”這個詞簡單概括。特朗普已任由暴力的氣氛在他的競選活動中發酵。他慫恿支持者毆打起鬨的人，並表示他想給在民主黨全國代表大會上發言的人一拳，“打得他們頭暈目眩”。在共和黨全國代表大會上，特朗普競選團隊不得不對一位代表有關希拉里應“因叛國罪被殺”的說法表示不贊成。

Mr Trump now has a well-established record of making outrageous statements and then claiming that he has been misinterpreted. He mocked a disabled reporter — and then denied it. He suggested that another journalist had asked him tough questions because she was menstruating — and then denied it. In the same speech in which he talked of the “Second Amendment” people taking action against Mrs Clinton, he once again flirted with the conspiracy theory that Antonin Scalia, a conservative Supreme Court judge, had been murdered.

特朗普一向是先發表粗暴無禮的言論，然後聲稱自己遭到誤解——這一點現在可以說是衆所周知。他曾嘲笑一位殘疾記者，接着又否認。他還說過，有位記者曾問他很難回答的問題，因爲她正處在生理期，後來，他又否認自己這麼說過。在暗示《憲法第二修正案》支持者可以對希拉里採取行動的講話中，他再次玩起了陰謀論，稱美國最高法院持保守主義立場的法官安東寧•斯卡利亞(Antonin Scalia)被謀殺了。

Some will suggest that Mr Trump’s latest ramblings are further proof that he is deranged or out of control. But the truth may be rather more sinister. The Republican candidate has become a specialist in appealing to the wildest fringes of the American right by making statements that are clearly understood by them and by a wider audience but that are also just about deniable.

一些人會說，特朗普最新的瘋言瘋語進一步證明，他已神經錯亂或失控。但真相可能更危險。這位共和黨總統候選人已極爲擅長於迎合美國最狂熱的極右翼分子，他會發表一些顯然被他們和更多人理解、又幾近可以抵賴的言論。

Opinion polls suggest that this appalling strategy is not going to deliver Mr Trump success at the ballot box. But the fear must be that they will further poison the political atmosphere in the US and encourage the kind of political violence with which Mr Trump is now flirting.

民調顯示，這種可怕的策略不會讓特朗普在選舉中獲勝。但人們肯定要擔心，這將進一步毒害美國的政治環境並鼓勵特朗普正在玩弄的那種政治暴力。