(单词翻译:单击)
Neighborhoods organize self-defense groups, and law-enforcement officers take sides or go home.
社区组织自卫小组，执法人员要么支持，要么就回家。
Predominantly red or blue counties turn on political minorities.
以红色(共和党)或蓝色(民主党)为主的县转而支持少数政治群体。
A family with a biden-harris sign has to abandon home on a rural road and flee to the nearest town.
一个挂着“拜登-哈里斯”牌子的家庭不得不放弃乡村公路上的家，逃到最近的城镇。
A blue militia sacks Trump National Golf Club Bedminster; a red militia storms Oberlin College.
一支蓝色的民兵组织洗劫了贝德明斯特的特朗普国家高尔夫俱乐部; 一支红色民兵组织席卷了欧柏林学院。
The new president takes power in a state of siege.
新总统在四面楚刀的情况下上台。
Few people would choose this path.
很少有人会选择这条路。
It’s the kind of calamity into which fragile societies stumble when their leaders are reckless, selfish, and shortsighted.
当他们的领导人鲁莽、自私、短视时，脆弱的社会就会陷入这种灾难。
But some Americans actually long for an armed showdown.
但有些美国人其实渴望武力一决胜负。
In an article for the Claremont Review of Books imagining how the cultural conflict between blue California and red Texas might play out, Michael Anton, a former Trump White House adviser, recently wrote:
特朗普的前白宫顾问迈克尔·安东最近在为《克莱蒙特书评》撰写的一篇文章中，设想了蓝色的加州和红色的德克萨斯州之间的文化冲突可能会如何收场:
If the Lone Star way of life is to survive, Texans must fight for it.
如果孤星(德克萨斯州的绰号)的生活方式是为了生存，德克萨斯人必须为之奋斗。
Then we shall see whether California’s long experiment with postmodern deracination and anti-masculinity can stand up to Texas’s more robust embrace of the old virtues.
然后，我们将看到加州长期以来的后现代种族灭绝和反男子气概的尝试能否与德州对旧美德的更有力的拥抱相抗衡。
I’m not a betting man, but were that conflict to erupt, my money would be on Texas.
我不是一个赌徒，但如果冲突爆发，我的钱会押在德州。
Imagining the worst is a civic duty; cheering it on is political arson.
设想最坏的情况是公民的义务; 为它喝彩就是政治纵火。
Another, likelier scenario is widespread cynicism.
另一种可能性更大的情况是普遍的犬儒主义。
Following the election crisis, protests burn out.
选举危机之后，抗议活动逐渐平息。
Americans lapse into acquiescence, believing that all leaders lie, all voting is rigged, all media are bought, corruption is normal, and any appeal to higher values such as freedom and equality is either fraudulent or naive.
美国人陷入了默认模式，相信所有的领导人都在撒谎，所有的投票都被操纵，所有的媒体都被收买，腐败是正常的，任何对自由和平等更高价值的诉求都具有欺诈性或幼稚性。
The loss of democracy turns out not to matter all that much.
事实证明，民主的丧失并不那么重要。
The hollowed core of civic life brings a kind of relief.
市民生活的核心被掏空，这带来了一种解脱。
Citizens indulge themselves in self-care and the metaverse, where politics turns into a private game and algorithms drive Americans into ever more extreme views that have little relation to reality or relevance to those in power.
公民们专注于自顾，沉迷于元世界，在这里，政治变成了一场私人游戏，算法驱使美国人产生越来越极端的观点，这些观点与现实或当权者几乎毫无关系。
There’s enough wealth to keep the population content.
有足够的财富来满足人们的需求。
America’s transformation into Russia is complete.
美国向俄罗斯的改革已经完成。
