纽约时报 乌克兰成为2020年美国大选的角逐点(4)（在线收听）

The effort by the president and his team to shift the focus to Mr. Biden could boomerang,

总统及其团队试图将民众的注意力转移到拜登身上，然而，此举可能适得其反，

casting the Democratic front-runner as a sympathetic figure unfairly attacked with foreign help.

反将这位目前在党内领跑的候选人塑造成受到了特朗普连同外国势力的不公平攻击而值得同情的形象。

It could just as easily mark a defining moment for Mr. Biden,

现年76岁的拜登首次当选参议员是1972年，

a 76-year-old politician first elected to the Senate in 1972

他早已习惯于按照那个时代的，更为文雅的政治规则行事。

and long accustomed to playing by the more genteel political rules of a different era.

对拜登而言，特朗普阵营的这一举措很可能对他产生里程碑式的影响，

Donna Brazile, the former Democratic National Committee chairwoman

唐娜·布拉泽尔，民主党全国委员会前任主席，

who led the party through Hillary Clinton’s loss to Mr. Trump three years ago,

三年前，希拉里·克林顿在大选时输给特朗普时，就是她带领民主党渡过了难关，

said the exchange on Saturday “in many ways feels like 2016.”

周六，她评论道，二人此次的交锋，“从许多方面来看都有2016年大选的影子。”

Just the prominent discussion of the actions of Mr. Biden and his son in Ukraine,

有关拜登及其儿子亨特二人在乌克兰的行动的讨论已经闹得沸沸扬扬，

regardless of the merits of the president’s accusations, has the potential to hurt Mr. Biden, Ms. Brazile said.

布拉泽尔女士表示，无论总统的指控有多少水分，那些讨论都有可能给拜登带来实质性的伤害。

“We’re basically creating a political story, which right now is undermining Joe Biden,

“可以说，我们是在创造一个政治故事，现在，这个故事正在削弱乔·拜登，

when I do believe the real focus should be getting the substance of the complaint out to the American people as soon as possible,” she said.

在我看来，真正的重点应该是尽快把指控的实质内容传达给美国民众。”

On Saturday morning, Mr. Trump posted a video mash-up of TV news footage of stories about Mr. Biden’s son.

周六上午，特朗普在推特上发布了一段报道拜登儿子的电视新闻的混剪视频。

“This is the real and only story,” the president wrote.

“这就是真实，也是唯一的故事，”总统配文写道。

Citing the reports by journalists seemed contradictory

引用记者的报道这一举措本身似乎就存在矛盾，

given the president’s claim that the media had not reported on the issue.

因为此前总统曾声称媒体没有报道此事。

But the tweets signaled that Mr. Trump and his campaign organization

然而，这些推文表明，特朗普和他的竞选团队

would be doing as much as possible to sow doubt about Mr. Biden.

会费尽心机动摇民众对拜登的信心。

Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, a Biden backer, said that no matter who emerges as the Democratic nominee in 2020,

拜登的支持者、特拉华州参议员克里斯·库恩斯表示，无论2020年大选民主党一方的提名人是谁，

that person will face misinformation and slashing personal attacks by the president and his campaign.

他都将面临总统及其竞选团队捏造的信息以及猛烈的人身攻击。

“You have any other nominee, Trump will do something comparable to try to disadvantage that nominee,”

“就算换作其他候选人，特朗普也一样会采取类似的举措妨碍这名候选人，”

said Mr. Coons, as he walked with Mr. Biden into a Polk County Democratic Party event.

库恩斯在与拜登一起走进波尔克县的民主党活动现场时说道。

“I don’t see anything about this story that is specific to Joe Biden.”

“我看不出这出戏有任何针对乔·拜登个人的地方。”

So far, Mr. Biden’s rivals, nearly all of whom converged on Iowa this weekend, have been quick to assail Mr. Trump

到目前为止，拜登的竞争对手——本周末，他们几乎一个不落地齐聚在了爱荷华州——纷纷迅速对特朗普发起了攻击，

while avoiding commentary about how the president’s accusations against the Bidens would affect the Democratic nominating contest.

与此同时，他们也都不约而同地避免评论总统对拜登父子的指控会对民主党的提名竞争造成怎样的影响。