紐時賞析／期中選舉告急 共和黨抹紅民主黨

Republicans, Facing Midterm Peril, Try to Brand Democrats as Communists

期中選舉告急 共和黨抹紅民主黨

One by one, Republican speakers at President Donald Trump’s midterm convention in Dallas this past week turned to a far-fetched argument with echoes of the Cold War.

美國總統川普在達拉斯舉行期中選舉大會。共和黨講者輪番上台，反覆訴諸一套牽強附會、帶著冷戰陰影的說法。

House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana claimed, “Next year the communists will be in Congress — that’s what’s so frightening.” Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 House Republican, said implausibly that there had been a “Bolshevik Revolution in the Democrat Party.”

選自路易斯安那州的聯邦眾院議長強生宣稱：「明年共產黨人就會進國會，這才是最可怕的事。」眾院共和黨第二號人物史卡利斯甚至說，民主黨內已經爆發一場「布爾什維克革命」，這種說法顯然言過其實。

And when Trump, the ringleader of this new Red Scare, took the stage, he returned — again and again and again — to baseless claims that Democrats were running as communists in the midterms.

等帶頭掀起這波新「紅色恐慌」的川普登台，更是一而再、再而三指控民主黨期中選舉候選人是共產黨人。

“It’s going to be a communist country if they win,” he predicted, one of at least 60 times a speaker at the convention mentioned communism or communists.

「如果他們贏了，美國就會變成共產國家。」川普表示。整場大會至少有60次提到「共產主義」或「共產黨人」。

Although this year’s Democratic primary season brought a surge of left-wing momentum, and a handful of victories by democratic socialists running for Congress in Colorado, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Florida, no credible midterm candidate identifies as a communist. And there is little momentum behind any communist movement in U.S. politics at the federal level.

今年民主黨初選確實出現一波左翼聲勢，科羅拉多、密西根、紐約、賓州與佛州都有民主社會主義者贏得國會提名，但沒有任何具分量的期中選舉候選人自稱共產黨人，美國聯邦政壇也看不出有什麼共產主義運動正在成形。

Perhaps not since the 1950s or ’60s has an American political party spent so much time talking about communism. In Trump’s telling, communism poses the gravest danger to the country. It is more severe, he says, than World War I, the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor in 1941 or the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.

美國主要政黨上一次如此頻繁把「共產主義」掛在嘴邊，恐怕要追溯到1950、1960年代。照川普的說法，共產主義甚至是美國面臨的最大威脅，比第一次世界大戰、1941年日本偷襲珍珠港，甚至2001年911恐攻都更嚴重。

Republicans have been grasping for a potent attack line as they confront widespread voter discontent with the president’s war with Iran as well as high gasoline and grocery prices. They believe the left-wing congressional nominees have offered an opening to build an argument that Democrats are outside the mainstream.

共和黨現在正面對選民對川普伊朗戰爭，以及高油價、高食品價格的不滿，急著找一個有力的攻擊口號。他們認為，民主黨多名左翼候選人出線，正好可以拿來把整個民主黨打成脫離主流。

Whether the attacks make a difference in the midterms is still far from clear.

這套打法最後能不能左右期中選舉，目前仍很難說。

Some Democrats have expressed worry that the rise of democratic socialism in their party could play into Republican efforts to cast them as extremists and that constant mentions of communism could blur the lines for some voters.

部分民主黨人已經擔心，黨內民主社會主義勢力崛起，可能正中共和黨下懷；「共產主義」喊得夠多，也可能讓部分選民開始分不清民主社會主義與共產主義。

Hillary Clinton told Kara Swisher on the “Pivot” podcast that Republican messaging accusing Democrats of being communists would be “very effective” politically.

希拉蕊．柯林頓接受「Pivot」Podcast主持人史維瑟訪問時說，共和黨把民主黨打成共產黨，在政治上可能「非常有效」。

“People on the left have to be prepared to answer that,” Clinton said.

她說：「左派人士必須準備好回應這波攻勢。」

文／Tim Balk，譯／國際中心

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【張佑生】

共和黨日前舉行史上首次期中選舉大會，紐約時報報導，從川普以降，演講人極力抹紅民主黨，把「共產黨」當成政治標籤，進行恐懼動員，用來轉移選民對戰爭、物價與政府施政的不滿。

「社會主義／共產主義」(socialist→communist)的說法充滿即視感，此間也有「在地協力者」(local/domestic collaborators)，名詞不同，套路一致：把政策競爭偷換為忠誠測驗。老江湖希拉蕊警告這套說法「very effective」，正是在承認標籤戰的政治威力。往下推，就是fellow traveler(同路人)甚至fifth columnist(第五縱隊)。

紐時認為，抹紅主因是共和黨深感期中選舉形勢告急，peril比danger更危險，可能受傷甚至喪命。A far-fetched argument with echoes of the Cold War中，far-fetched指牽強附會，不可能為真；echoes of the Cold War不單純「與冷戰有關」，而是指那些反共、恐共的語氣在當代政治中重新出現，「彷彿回到冷戰時代」。

紐時用the ringleader of this new Red Scare來稱呼川普， ringleader指帶頭鬧事的人，含有批判意味，不宜理解為領袖。Red Scare則是美國歷史上對反共恐慌的固定說法。