According to the book, ordinary Americans, too, are ill-equipped to grapple with the president’s brazenness. Ever since Watergate, they have been primed to sniff out political conspiracy. But Mr Trump lacks the attention span and managerial skills to run a conspiracy. Faced with pressure to reveal who received $500bn in taxpayerfunded emergency loans, his administration did not manufacture a false paper trail. His treasury secretary simply refused to say. It wasn’t muckraking journalists who informed the public that Mr Trump had sacked James Comey, a former director of the FBI, because of its probes into his campaign’s links with Russia.As Gessen relates, the president said so on television.
根據這本書中描述的，普通的美國人也沒有足夠的能力來對付總統的厚顏無恥。自從水門事件發生以來，他們就做好去找出政治陰謀的準備。但是特朗普缺少策劃陰謀所需要的足夠的注意力以及管理能力。面對著披露誰獲得了納稅人資助的5000億美元緊急貸款的壓力，特朗普政府并沒有偽造文件。他的財務部長只是拒絕透漏。并不是那些揭露丑聞的記者告知民眾，特朗普解雇了前聯邦調查局局長詹姆斯·科米，因為聯邦調查局就特朗普競選團隊與俄羅斯之間的關系展開了調查。正如格森講述的這樣，總統在電視上是這樣說的。
Borrowing a phrase from Balint Magyar, a Hungarian writer and politician, Gessen now characterises Mr Trump’s overall project as “an autocratic attempt”, rather than the thing itself; he is said to be testing America’s defences and laying the groundwork for further power grabs.The country can still fend off this bid—notably by voting him out of office. But more will be required, Gessen urges, to repair the damage and see off the danger. Ideals have receded from politics in favour of an uninspiring technocracy; America will have to reinvent, or at least rediscover, its “moral aspiration”, in particular “the belief that this can be a country of all its people”.
借用匈牙利作家和政治家巴林特·馬亞爾的一句話，格森現在將特朗普的整個計劃描述為“一種獨裁企圖”，而不針對這件事本身；據說，他正在測試美國的防御能力，并為進一步的權力爭奪打下基礎。美國仍然可以通過投票讓特朗普下臺來抵御這種企圖。但是，格森敦促說，還需要更多的努力來修復傷害和消除危險。理想已經從政治中退去，美國現在轉而支持一個過時的技術官僚政治；美國將不得不重新創造，或者至少重新發現它的“道德抱負”，特別是“相信美國可以成為一個全民共享的國家”。
Bracing as it is, though, this book underplays the robustness of some of the institutions it frets over. The Supreme Court, for instance, has recently issued a string of rulings that enraged the president; though Republican senators preserved him in office, occasionally even some of them have disappointed him. And it misses the extent to which the fightback Gessen craves is already happening. Mr Trump has led Republicans towards nativism, but also to three years of electoral defeats—including the loss of the House of Representatives. Should Democrats win the presidency and both chambers of Congress in November, he may inspire a raft of ethics legislation.
盡管這本書令人振奮，但它低估了它所擔心的一些機構的穩健性。例如，最高法院最近發布了一系列裁決，這激怒了總統；盡管共和黨參議員保住了他的職位，但有時甚至有些人會讓他失望。這本書也忽略了格森渴望的反擊已經發生的程度。特朗普帶領共和黨人走向本土主義，但也導致了三年的選舉失敗，包括失去眾議院的控制權。如果民主黨在11月贏得總統選舉和國會兩院選舉，他可能會產生一系列倫理立法。
Mr Trump may be a sign of decadence in American democracy, as Gessen implies. He could also prove its renewer.
正如格森暗示的那樣，特朗普可能是美國民主頹廢的標志。他還可以證明自己會使民主重獲新生。
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