2018年经济学人 美国总统特朗普可以凌驾于法律之上吗?(2)

 

Mr Cohen says Mr Trump¹ asked him to make hush²-money payments—

科恩表示，特朗普要求他支付保密款项——

something that is not illegal for ordinary citizens,

这对普通公民来说并不违法，

but counts as an undeclared donation when done on behalf of a political candidate, as Mr Trump was at the time.

但在代表一位政治候选人捐款时，就算是一笔未申报的捐款，特朗普时值总统候选人。

So what?

那又怎样？

After all, America treats breaches³ of campaign-finance law much more like speeding tickets than burglary:

毕竟，美国对待违反竞选资金法更像是对待超速罚单，而不是入室行窃：

they are often the result of filling in a form wrongly, or incorrectly accounting⁴ for campaign spending.

认为违反竞选资金法通常是错误填写表格的结果，或者是竞选经费计算错误。

There are good reasons for this indulgent approach.

这种放纵的做法有很好的理由。

When voters elect someone who has bent⁵ the rules, it sets up a conflict between the courts and the electorate⁶ that is hard to resolve cleanly.

当选民投票给一个违反规则的人时，就会在法院和选民之间引发一场难以干净利落解决的冲突。

Mr Trump does not stand accused of getting his paperwork wrong, however, but of paying bribes⁷ to scotch⁸ a damaging story.

特朗普不应因文书工作有误而被谴责，而应因为行贿抹杀有破坏性的事件被谴责。

That is a far more serious offence,

这是一个严重得多的罪行，

and one that was enough to end the career of John Edwards, an aspirant⁹ Democratic presidential candidate, when he was caught doing something similar in 2008.

严重到足以终结约翰·爱德华兹的政治生涯，这位野心勃勃的民主党总统候选人，2008年做了类似的事情。

There is no way of knowing if Mr Trump would still have won had the story come out.

如果特朗普的事情被曝光，我们无从知晓他是否仍会赢。

Even so, the possibility that he might not have done raises questions about his legitimacy¹⁰, not just his observance of campaign-finance laws.

即便如此，他可能并没有这么做，但仅是可能性也引发了对特朗普合法性的质疑，不仅仅是遵守竞选资金法。

What of the convention, which has been in place since the Nixon era, that the Justice Department will not indict¹¹ a sitting president?

自从尼克松时代以来就存在的惯例是，司法部不会起诉在任总统。

Again, there are good reasons for this.

同样，这是有充分理由的。

As with breaches of campaign-finance law, such an indictment¹² would set up a conflict between the bureaucracy and the president’s democratic mandate¹³ that has no happy ending.

就像违反竞选资金法一样，这样的起诉将在官僚机构和总统的民主授权之间引发一场两败俱伤的冲突。

The convention would doubtless be void if there were credible¹⁴ evidence that a sitting president had, say, committed murder.

如果有可信的证据表明在任总统，比如说，犯了谋杀罪，那么该惯例毫无疑问是无效的。

But the payment of hush money to avoid an inconvenient¹⁵ story about an extramarital affair falls a long way short of that.

但是，为了避免发生婚外情而支付的封口费与此相去甚远。

The authors of the constitution wanted to allow the president to get on with his job without unnecessary distractions¹⁶.

美国的宪法起草者们想让总统在没有不必要干扰的情况下工作。

But, fresh from a war against King George III, they were very clear that the presidency¹⁷ should not be an elected monarchy¹⁸.

但是，刚经历过和英国国王乔治三世的战争，他们非常清楚总统不应是民选的君主政体。

If a president does it, that does not make it legal.

如果总统那样做，就是不合法的。

The constitutional problem that America is heading towards is that the Justice Department’s protocol¹⁹ not to prosecute²⁰ sitting presidents dates from another age, when a president could be expected to resign with a modicum²¹ of honour before any charges were drawn²² up, as Nixon did.

美国正面临的宪法问题是，司法部协议不起诉在任总统，这可追溯到另一个时代，在起草任何改变前，总统都被期望带着一点荣誉退位，正如尼克松所做的那样。

That norm no longer applies.

这一标准不再适用。

The unwritten convention now says in effect that, if his skin is thick enough, a president is indeed above the law.

现在生效的不成文的惯例是，只要脸皮够厚，总统确实可以凌驾于法律之上。

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 hush   

int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静

参考例句：

• A hush fell over the onlookers.旁观者们突然静了下来。
• Do hush up the scandal!不要把这丑事声张出去！

3 breaches   

破坏( breach的名词复数 )； 破裂； 缺口； 违背

参考例句：

• He imposed heavy penalties for breaches of oath or pledges. 他对违反誓言和保证的行为给予严厉的惩罚。
• This renders all breaches of morality before marriage very uncommon. 这样一来，婚前败坏道德的事就少见了。

4 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

5 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

6 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。

7 bribes   

n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• corrupt officials accepting bribes 接受贿赂的贪官污吏

8 scotch   

n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的

参考例句：

• Facts will eventually scotch these rumours.这种谣言在事实面前将不攻自破。
• Italy was full of fine views and virtually empty of Scotch whiskey.意大利多的是美景，真正缺的是苏格兰威士忌。

9 aspirant   

n.热望者；adj.渴望的

参考例句：

• Any aspirant to the presidency here must be seriously rich.要想当这儿的主席一定要家财万贯。
• He is among the few aspirants with administrative experience.他是为数不多的几个志向远大而且有管理经验的人之一。

10 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。

11 indict   

v.起诉，控告，指控

参考例句：

• You can't indict whole people for the crudeness of a few.您不能因少数人的粗暴行为就控诉整个民族。
• I can indict you for abducting high school student.我可以告你诱拐中学生。

12 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

13 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

14 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？

15 inconvenient   

adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的

参考例句：

• You have come at a very inconvenient time.你来得最不适时。
• Will it be inconvenient for him to attend that meeting?他参加那次会议会不方便吗？

16 distractions   

n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 )；娱乐，消遣；心烦意乱；精神错乱

参考例句：

• I find it hard to work at home because there are too many distractions. 我发觉在家里工作很难，因为使人分心的事太多。
• There are too many distractions here to work properly. 这里叫人分心的事太多，使人无法好好工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

18 monarchy   

n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国

参考例句：

• The monarchy in England plays an important role in British culture.英格兰的君主政体在英国文化中起重要作用。
• The power of the monarchy in Britain today is more symbolical than real.今日英国君主的权力多为象徵性的，无甚实际意义。

19 protocol   

n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节

参考例句：

• We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
• The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。

20 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

21 modicum   

n.少量，一小份

参考例句：

• If he had a modicum of sense,he wouldn't do such a foolish thing.要是他稍有一点理智，他决不会做出如此愚蠢的事来。
• There's not even a modicum of truth in her statement.她说的话没有一点是真的。

22 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。