American politics
Trump's legacy
The invasion of the Capitol and the Democrats' victory in Georgia will change the course of the Biden presidency
FOUR YEARS ago Donald Trump stood in front of the Capitol building to be sworn into office and promised to end “American carnage”. His term is concluding with a sitting president urging a mob to march on Congress—and then praising it after it had resorted to violence. Be in no doubt that Mr Trump is the author of this lethal attack on the heart of American democracy. His lies fed the grievance, his disregard for the constitution focused it on Congress and his demagoguery lit the fuse. Pictures of the mob storming the Capitol, gleefully broadcast in Moscow and Beijing just as they were lamented in Berlin and Paris, are the defining images of Mr Trump’s unAmerican presidency.
capitol 常写作 the Capitol ，指“（美国）国会大厦”course 意思是“进展；进程”swear 意思是“郑重承诺；发誓要”，be sworn in/into 表示“宣誓就职；宣誓忠于某组织（或国家等）”，比如 He was sworn in as president. 他宣誓就任总统。在这里的 be sworn into office 就表示“宣誓就职”。carnage 意思是“大屠杀”，类似于slaughter和massacremob 指“（尤指）暴民”resort to sth. 表示“诉诸；求助于；依靠”lethal 意思是“致命的；危害极大的”grievance 指“抱怨；牢骚”，词形类似的词有grieve和griefdemagoguery 表示“群众煽动；煽动行为”；去掉词尾，demagogue 意思是“蛊惑民心的政客”fuse 指“导火线；导火索”，lit 在这里是light的过去式，意为“点燃；点火”gleefully 意思是“高兴地”，形容词为gleefullament 意思是“对…感到悲痛；痛惜”
The Capitol violence pretended to be a show of power. In fact it masked two defeats. While Mr Trump’s supporters were breaking and entering, Congress was certifying the results of the president’s incontrovertible loss in November. While the mob was smashing windows, Democrats were celebrating a pair of unlikely victories in Georgia that will give them control of the Senate (see article). The mob’s grievances will reverberate through the Republican Party as it finds itself in opposition. And that will have consequences for the presidency of Joe Biden, which begins on January 20th.
reverberate 意思是“ 回响；回荡”
Stand back from the nonsense about stolen elections, and the scale of Republicans’ failure under Mr Trump becomes clear. Having won the White House and retained majorities in Congress in 2016, defeat in Georgia means that the party has lost it all just four years later. The last time that happened to Republicans was in 1892, when news of Benjamin Harrison’s humiliation travelled by telegraph.
nonsense 意思是“谬论；胡扯；胡言乱语”humiliation 指“羞辱，丧失尊严”，动词是humiliate
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