“小学生特朗普”：水门事件记者新书揭白宫内幕
国防部长吉姆·马蒂斯(Jim Mattis)在去年1月与特朗普总统讨论朝鲜核僵局。在这场讨论中，马蒂斯感到十分震惊。他恼怒地对同事们说，“总统表现得像——他的理解力也像——‘一个五、六年级学生’。”
At another moment, Mr. Trump’s aides became so worried about his judgment that Gary D. Cohn, then the chief economic adviser, took a letter from the president’s Oval Office desk authorizing the withdrawal of the United States from a trade agreement with South Korea. Mr. Trump, who had planned to sign the letter, never realized it was missing.
还有一次，特朗普的助手们对他的判断力感到十分担忧，以至于时任首席经济顾问的加里·D·科恩(Gary D. Cohn)拿走了总统椭圆形办公室办公桌上一封信——这封信授权美国退出与韩国的贸易协定。特朗普本来打算在信上签名，但他从未意识到信不见了。
These anecdotes are in a sprawling, highly anticipated book by Bob Woodward that depicts the Trump White House as a byzantine, treacherous, often out-of-control operation — “crazytown,” in the words of the chief of staff, John F. Kelly — hostage to the whims of an impulsive, ill-informed and undisciplined president.
鲍勃·伍德沃德(Bob Woodward)在一本广受期待的书中洋洋洒洒地记述了这些轶事，将特朗普的白宫描述成一个拜占庭式的、变化莫测、经常失控的运作系统，被一个冲动、孤陋寡闻、无章可循的总统心血来潮的念头所左右——用幕僚长约翰·F·凯利(John F. Kelly)的话来说，是一座“疯狂城”。
The New York Times obtained a copy of the book, “Fear,” which will be published next Tuesday by Simon & Schuster.
《纽约时报》拿到了这本题为《恐惧》(Fear)的书，该书将于下周二由西蒙和舒斯特出版社(Simon & Schuster)出版。
Mr. Woodward, a longtime Washington Post reporter and editor, has turned the internal dramas of several previous White Houses into best-sellers. In taking on Mr. Trump, he faced the challenge of an unusually leaky administration, which has already provided grist for countless news articles and one mega-bestseller, “Fire and Fury” by Michael Wolff.
长期在《华盛顿邮报》担任记者和编辑的伍德沃德已经把之前几届白宫的戏剧性内幕写成了畅销书。在与特朗普较量时，他面临的挑战是这届政府泄露信息异常频繁，已经为无数新闻文章和迈克尔·沃尔夫(Michael Wolff)的畅销书《炮火与怒火》(Fire and Fury)提供了素材。
But Mr. Woodward’s book has unsettled the administration and the president, in part because it is clear that the author has spoken with so many current and former officials, though all on the condition that they not be cited as sources for the information.
但伍德沃德的书让政府和总统感到不安，一定程度上是因为，作者显然与许多现任和前任官员进行了交谈，尽管前提是他不在书中将这些官员引为信源。
Mr. Trump, after initially brushing it aside as “just another bad book,” accused Mr. Woodward of making up quotes from Mr. Mattis and Mr. Kelly, and perpetuating a “con on the public.” In a tweet, he suggested that the author was a Democratic operative who had timed the publication to hurt the president politically before the midterm elections.
特朗普起初称这本书为“又一本糟糕的书”，对其嗤之以鼻。后来，他指责伍德沃德捏造了马蒂斯和凯利的引语，犯下“欺骗公众”的罪。在一则推文中，他暗示伍德沃德是一名民主党特工，选择在中期选举前出版本书来在政治上伤害总统。
The White House, in a statement, dismissed “Fear” as “nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the president look bad.” After hours of saturation news coverage on cable networks, “Fear” rocketed to No. 1 on Amazon.
白宫在一份声明中将《恐惧》一书贬低为“不过是捏造出来的故事，很多都是由心怀不满的前雇员编造出来的，说出来使总统难堪。”经过数小时有线电视铺天盖地的新闻报道，《恐惧》在亚马逊销量榜飙升至第一位。
Some of the freshest details in the book involve Mr. Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general who has been viewed as an anchor in Mr. Trump’s cabinet. Mr. Woodward portrays Mr. Mattis as frequently derisive of the commander in chief, rattled by his judgment, and willing to slow-walk orders from him that he viewed as reckless.
书中一些最新鲜的细节与马蒂斯有关，这位退役海军陆战队将军一直被视为特朗普内阁一名重量级人物。在伍德沃德的笔下，马蒂斯经常嘲弄总司令(特朗普总统)，并会慢吞吞地执行在他看来鲁莽的命令。
In the North Korea meeting, during a period of high tension with the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, Mr. Trump questioned Mr. Mattis about why the United States keeps a military presence on the Korean Peninsula. “We’re doing this in order to prevent World War III,” Mr. Mattis responded, according to Mr. Woodward.
朝鲜峰会时，特朗普和朝鲜领导人金正恩在高压下会面。特朗普问马蒂斯，美国为什么要在朝鲜半岛保持军事存在?“我们这么做是为了防止第三次世界大战的爆发，”马蒂斯回答——根据伍德沃德的书。
In April 2017, after President Bashar al-Assad of Syria launched a chemical attack on his own people, Mr. Trump called Mr. Mattis and told him that he wanted the United States to assassinate Mr. Assad. “Let’s go in,” the president said, adding a string of expletives.
2017年4月，在叙利亚总统巴沙尔·阿萨德(Bashar al-Assad)对自己的人民发动化学袭击后，特朗普打电话给马蒂斯说，他希望美国暗杀阿萨德。“我们派人去叙利亚吧，”总统说，加了一连串咒骂。
The defense secretary hung up and told one of his aides: “We’re not going to do any of that. We’re going to be much more measured.” At his direction, the Pentagon prepared options for an airstrike on Syrian military positions, which Mr. Trump later ordered.
国防部长挂断了电话，对他的一个助手说：“我们根本不会这样做。我们会慎重得多。”在他的指示下，五角大楼准备了空袭叙利亚军事阵地的方案，特朗普后来下令进行空袭。
Mr. Mattis issued his own statement denying he ever used the “contemptuous words” that Mr. Woodward attributed to him. “While I generally enjoy reading fiction,” he said, “this is a uniquely Washington brand of literature, and his anonymous sources do not lend credibility.”
马蒂斯发表了自己的声明，否认他曾说过伍德沃德书中引用的那些“轻蔑的话”。“虽然我一般喜欢读小说，”他说，“但这是华盛顿独有的文学流派，而且他的匿名消息来源并不可信。”
Mr. Woodward’s reporting adds another layer to a recurring theme in the Trump White House: frustrated aides who sometimes resort to extraordinary measures to thwart the president’s decisions — a phenomenon the author describes as “an administrative coup d’état.” In addition to Mr. Mattis and Mr. Cohn, he recounts the tribulations of Mr. Kelly and his predecessor, Reince Priebus, whose tensions with Mr. Trump have been reported elsewhere.
伍德沃德的报道为特朗普白宫反复出现的一个主题又增添了一层深度：沮丧的助手们有时会采取非常措施来阻挠总统的决定——作者将这种现象描述为“一次行政政变”。除了马蒂斯和科恩，他还讲述了凯利，以及他的前任雷恩斯·普利巴斯(Reince Priebus)的苦难。根据其他报道，普里巴斯与特朗普关系紧张。
Mr. Cohn, Mr. Woodward said, told a colleague he had removed the letter about the Korea free trade agreement to protect national security. Later, when the president ordered a similar letter authorizing the departure of the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mr. Cohn and other aides plotted how to prevent him from going ahead with a move they feared would be deeply destabilizing.
伍德沃德说，科恩曾经告诉一位同事，为了保护国家安全，他拿走了跟韩国自贸协定有关的信件。后来，当特朗普指示要一封授权美国退出《北美自由贸易协定》(North American Free Trade Agreement)的类似信件时，科恩和其他助手想办法阻止他继续采取行动，他们担心此举会严重破坏稳定。
“I can stop this,” Mr. Cohn said to the staff secretary, Rob Porter, according to the book. “I’ll just take the paper off his desk.”
“我可以阻止它，”科恩对幕僚长罗布·波特(Rob Porter)说。“我就直接把信从他的桌子上拿走好了。”
Mr. Woodward reported new details about Mr. Cohn’s well-documented clash with the president over his equivocal response to the white nationalist violence in Charlottesville, Va., in August 2017. Mr. Cohn, who threatened to resign over the episode, was particularly shaken after one of his daughters discovered a swastika in her college dorm.
2017年8月，弗吉尼亚州夏洛茨维尔发生的白人民族主义暴力事件，科恩与特朗普对于后者在该事件上模凌两可的回应所导致的冲突，已经有了很多记载，伍德沃德的书却提供了新的细节。女儿在大学宿舍发现了一个纳粹标识后，曾威胁要辞职的科恩尤其感到震惊。
Mr. Trump’s dealings with foreign leaders were similarly fraught. During a phone call to negotiate the release of an Egyptian-American detained in Cairo, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said, “Donald, I’m worried about this investigation,” referring to the Russia inquiry. “Are you going to be around?”
特朗普与外国领导人打交道，也同样令人担忧。埃及总统阿卜杜勒—法塔赫·塞西(Abdel Fattah el-Sisi)就释放一名在开罗被拘捕的埃及裔美国人进行谈判，他在电话中说，“唐纳德，我很担心这个调查，”他指的是通俄调查。“你还会在这个位置上吗?”
In July 2017, Mr. Woodward said, Mr. Trump told Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia that he would exempt his country from steel tariffs, only to claim, nearly eight months later, that he had never made that promise. Pressed on it by Mr. Turnbull, Mr. Trump said, “Oh yeah, I guess I remember that.”
伍德沃德说，2017年7月，特朗普对澳大利亚总理马尔科姆·特恩布尔(Malcolm Turnbull)说，他将免除从澳大利亚进口钢铁的关税，但在近8个月后却声称，他从未做出过这样的承诺。在特恩布尔的追问下，特朗普说，“哦，是的，我想我记得。”
Mr. Cohn, Mr. Woodward said, concluded that Mr. Trump was a “professional liar.”
伍德沃德说，科恩认定，特朗普是一个“撒谎大王”。
He found a sympathetic ear in Mr. Kelly, another retired Marine general, who frequently vented his frustration to colleagues about the president, whom he labeled “unhinged,” an “idiot” and “off the rails.” Mr. Kelly’s reference to Mr. Trump as an “idiot” has been reported before.
他在另一位退役海军陆战队将军凯利那里获得了认同，后者也经常向同事发泄对总统的不满，说总统“精神有毛病”，是“白痴”、“脑子坏了”。之前就曾有过报道，说凯利称特朗普是“白痴”。
“We’re in crazytown,” Mr. Kelly said in one meeting, according to Mr. Woodward. “I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had.”
伍德沃德说，凯利有一次开会的时候说，“我们这是在疯狂城。我甚至不知道我们怎么会在这里的。这是我做过的最烂的一份工作。”
Mr. Kelly also issued a denial on Tuesday, saying that “the idea I ever called the president an idiot is not true” and repeating his earlier insistence that he and Mr. Trump had “an incredibly candid and strong relationship.”
凯利周二发表声明，否认了这个说法，他表示，“说我曾经称总统是白痴的消息不属实”，并重申了早前的说法，即他和特朗普有着“极其坦诚和牢固的关系”。
In Mr. Woodward’s account, Mr. Trump rarely returns the loyalty of his subordinates. He derided Attorney General Jeff Sessions, one of his earliest political supporters, as “mentally retarded” and a “dumb Southerner,” mimicking his accent and making fun of his halting answers during his Senate confirmation hearing.
在伍德沃德的描述中，特朗普很少回报下属的忠诚。司法部长杰夫·塞申斯(Jeff Sessions)是特朗普最早的政治支持者之一，但他嘲笑对方“智障”，是“愚蠢的南方人”，模仿他在参议院确认听证会上的口音，取笑他吞吞吐吐的回答。
Mr. Trump referred to Mr. Priebus as a “little rat” who just “scurries around.” For his part, Mr. Priebus described the White House as a Hobbesian world, in which officials delight in sticking knives into one another, according to the book.
特朗普称普利巴斯是只“小老鼠”，只会“四处乱窜”。书中说，普利巴斯把白宫描述成一个霍布斯式的世界，在这个世界里，官员们喜欢背后互相捅刀子。
“When you put a snake and rat and falcon and a rabbit and a shark and a seal into a zoo without walls, things started getting nasty and bloody,” said Mr. Priebus, whom Mr. Trump eventually ousted and abandoned on a rain-slicked tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base.
“当你把一条蛇、一只老鼠、一只猎鹰、一只兔子、一头鲨鱼和一头海豹放进一个没有围墙的动物园，事情开始变得血腥，令人厌恶，”普利巴斯说，特朗普最终撤了他的职，把他扔在了被雨水打湿的安德鲁斯空军基地停机坪上。
Mr. Woodward, who began speaking to Mr. Trump’s aides even before the inauguration, also documented the misgivings of the president’s former lawyer, John Dowd, about whether the president should submit to questions from the special counsel in the Russia investigation, Robert S. Mueller III.
伍德沃德甚至在就职典礼前就开始和特朗普的助手交谈，他记录了总统前律师约翰·多德(John Dowd)的疑虑，多德认为总统不应接受通俄门调查特别检察官罗伯特·S·穆勒三世(Robert S. Mueller III)的质询。
“Don’t testify,” Mr. Dowd told the president. “It’s either that or an orange jump suit.”
“不要作证，”多德告诉总统。“要不就得进监牢。”
Mr. Dowd denied on Tuesday that he ever said that.
多德于周二否认自己说过这话。
Last January, Mr. Woodward writes, Mr. Dowd staged a practice session in the White House residence to dramatize the pressures Mr. Trump would face in a session with Mr. Mueller. The president stumbled repeatedly, contradicting himself and lying, before he exploded in anger.
去年1月，伍德沃德写道，多德在白宫举行了一次演习，用戏剧化的方式模拟特朗普与穆勒会谈时可能面临的压力。总统一再结结巴巴、自相矛盾、满口谎言，最后愤怒地爆发。
“This thing’s a goddamn hoax,” Mr. Trump declared. “I don’t really want to testify.”
“这件事是一场该死的恶作剧，”特朗普宣称。“我也不想作证的。”
Mr. Woodward said he tried to get access to the president but did not interview him. After he had completed the manuscript, Mr. Trump called Mr. Woodward to express regret for not talking to him, blaming it on aides who he said had failed to inform him of interest.
伍德沃德说，他试图接触总统，但没有采访他。在完成手稿之后，特朗普打电话给伍德沃德，因为没能和他说话而表示遗憾，并说这都怪助手没有告诉他相关事宜。
In a transcript and a tape of the call published Tuesday by the The Post, Mr. Woodward told Mr. Trump he interviewed many White House officials outside their offices, and gathered extensive documentation. “It’s a tough look at the world and the administration and you,” he told Mr. Trump.
在星期二由《邮报》公布的电话和录音带中，伍德沃德告诉特朗普，他在很多白宫官员下班后采访了他们，并收集了大量文件。“这是对这个世界、这个政府和你的严厉审视，”他告诉特朗普。
“Right,” the president replied. “Well, I assume that means it’s going to be a negative book.”
“好吧，”总统回答道。“好吧，那我猜这意味着它会是一本负面的书了。”
