In the preface to How to Get Rich, one of Donald Trump’s self-help manuals, he reminds us there are “countless how-to-get-rich books” by millionaires. Authors with extra zeros to their name are far less common. “Billionaires with their own Manhattan skyscrapers and hit primetime TV series are the rarest of all,” Mr Trump writes. “Don’t let the brevity of these passages prevent you from savouring the profundity of the advice you are about to receive.”

在唐纳德礠朗普(Donald Trump)的其中一本自助指南《如何致富》(How to Get Rich)的序言中，他提醒我们市面上有“无数本如何致富的书”由百万富翁撰写。名下财富跟着更多个零的作者则远没有那么常见。“在曼哈顿拥有自己的摩天大楼和黄金时段热门电视连续节目的亿万富翁则是最稀有的，”特朗普写道：“不要让本书的简短段落妨碍你品味书中建议的深刻道理。”

There, in a sentence, is the essence of the self-dubbed “Trumpster” — boastful, shameless, childlike and (to millions of Americans) irresistible. It also includes his core pitch for becoming the next president of the United States. He is rich. He is smart. And he marries beautiful women. What else do you need to know?

这一句话彰显了这位自称“Trumpster”的人的本质——自夸、不知廉耻、幼稚，而且（对数百万美国人来说）令人无法抗拒。这句话也包含了他竞选下一任美国总统的核心卖点。他很富有。他很聪明。他娶到了不止一位美丽的女人。你还需要知道什么？

Quite a lot, to judge by the terror he has sown in the Republican establishment over the past three weeks. Just last month, when Mr Trump launched his campaign from the Trump Tower in Manhattan, it was hard to find anyone in Washington who took him seriously. Now leading a crowded Republican field of 16 candidates with almost a quarter of those polled, the Donald (another favoured moniker) is a mortal threat to the party’s electability.

从过去3周他在共和党体制内人士圈子中引起的恐惧来判断，我们需要知道的事情还不少。上月特朗普在曼哈顿特朗普大楼(Trump Tower)发起竞选活动时，华盛顿没什么人把他当一回事。而现在，以近四分之一的民调支持率，唐纳德（他的另一个爱称）在有16名候选人的拥挤的共和党角逐场上领跑，对该党的可当选性构成了致命威胁。

With talk of Mr Trump, 69, running as a third-party candidate should the Republicans spurn him in the primaries, he could even be Hillary Clinton’s ticket to the White House. Much as Ross Perot split the Republican vote in 1992 and helped deliver the presidency to Bill Clinton, an independent Mr Trump could destroy Republican chances in 2016.

如果共和党在初选阶段把他拒之门外，现年69岁的特朗普可能以第三方候选人的身份发起竞选，他甚至有可能成为希拉里克林顿(Hillary Clinton)问鼎白宫的跳板。就像1992年罗斯椠坏(Ross Perot)分走共和党的选票，“帮助”比尔克林顿(Bill Clinton)当选总统一样，一个独立竞选的特朗普可能会毁灭共和党在2016年大选中胜出的机会。

“Nobody has figured out how to respond to him,” says Vin Weber, a Republican veteran, who is informally advising Jeb Bush’s campaign. “There is something about his braggadocio, and his willingness to denigrate rivals, that is fuelling his popularity. If he had a clear ideology then others would know how to react — but he doesn’t.”

“还没有人想明白该怎么对付他，”目前是杰布布什(Jeb Bush)竞选活动非正式顾问的资深共和党人文韦伯(Vin Weber)表示：“他的自吹自擂和他对竞争对手的放肆诋毁有某种东西，正在助推他的人气。如果他有明确的意识形态，那么其他人会知道该如何回应——可他没有。”

A few years ago Mr Trump supported single payer healthcare. Now he wants to abolish President Barack Obama’s semi-formed imitation of it. Likewise he has turned from pro-choice to anti-abortion.

几年前，特朗普支持单一付款人医保方案。现在他想要废除巴拉克·奥巴马(Barack Obama)总统已成型一半的模仿方案。同样，他在堕胎问题上的立场从赞成自主选择变成了反对。

He is also scathing about illegal immigrants, particularly from Mexico, whom he says are “killing us at the border” and “killing us on trade”. Most of all, however, he is against his Republican competitors. Some of them could not even find a job in the private sector, he says. “I went to the Wharton School of business,” Mr Trump often reminds people. “I’m, like, a really smart person.”

他对非法移民严加指责，尤其是来自墨西哥的非法移民，称他们“在边境上杀死我们”，而且“在贸易上杀死我们”。然而，他最反对的还是共和党内的竞争对手们。他表示，其中一些人若是在私营部门将连工作都找不到。“我上过沃顿商学院(Wharton School of business)，”特朗普经常提醒人们，“我，像是，一个真正聪明的人。”

To judge by the fortune Mr Trump has amassed, which is probably a multiple of all his rivals combined, he has a point. The son of a well-off New York realtor, Mr Trump’s story is hardly one of rags to riches.

特朗普积累的财富很可能是他所有对手总和的数倍，从他积累的财富来评判，他的话的确有道理。作为一个富有的纽约地产经纪人的儿子，特朗普的经历很难称得上是白手起家。

More a product of Queens than the outer burbs, he took up his father’s trade and converted it into gold. Along the way, he secured four deferments from the Vietnam draft, took a business masters degree and learned the intricacies of the Manhattan property market.

特朗普在更大程度上是纽约皇后区(Queens)——而非纽约远郊——的产物。他接手了父亲的生意，把它变成了一座金山。在人生道路上，他四次找理由躲过越战兵役征召，取得了一个商业硕士学位，并掌握了曼哈顿房地产市场的错综复杂之处。

By the 1980s his dexterity as a realtor, which now included casinos in Atlantic City, was exceeded only by his popularity with the tabloids. His first wife, Ivana, tried to take half his wealth in their divorce. His second, Marla, earned him perhaps his favourite headline when she complimented his “swordsmanship” in bed. His third, Melania, has co-hosted Miss USA, the television beauty pageant he created along with Miss Teen USA and Miss Universe. “I love beautiful women and beautiful women love me,” he said.

到上世纪80年代，能够超过他作为房地产经纪人（那时已包括大西洋城(Atlantic City)的赌场）的精明程度的，只有他在八卦小报上的人气。他的第一任妻子伊万娜(Ivana)在离婚时试图分走一半的家产。第二任妻子马拉(Marla)帮他赢得了或许是他最钟爱的新闻标题——她赞美他在床上的“剑术”。第三任妻子梅拉尼娅(Melania)与他一起主持了电视选美比赛“美国小姐”(Miss USA)，还有“美国妙龄小姐”(Miss Teen USA)和“环球小姐”(Miss Universe)。“我爱美女，美女们也爱我，”特朗普说。

By any measure, Mr Trump is the opposite of what Republican leaders seek in their nominee. Yet the more he pokes country club Republicans in the eye, the more popular he becomes with the angry rank and file.

从各个方面来看，特朗普都与共和党领袖们所寻求的候选人背道而驰。然而，他越是成为共和党大佬们的眼中钉，他在愤怒的共和党基层中的人气就越高。

From the flashy skyscrapers to the “super luxury condominiums”, from the golf courses to the vineyards, Mr Trump’s sprawling empire is bound by one glue: his name brand. The same could be said of his campaign. It is one glorious ego trip. “Every day for Donald Trump on this campaign has been his birthday, Christmas Day and July fourth rolled into one,” says Frank Luntz, a leading Republican consultant, who recently moderated him at a gathering of presidential hopefuls. “He is having the time of his life. Why would he ever stop?”

从浮华的摩天大楼到“超豪华共管公寓”，从高尔夫球场到葡萄酒庄园，以他本人名字命名的品牌串起了一个庞大商业帝国。同样的表述也适用于他的竞选活动。这是一场自负意味十足的荣耀之旅。“对唐纳德礠朗普来说，竞选的每一天都像是生日、圣诞节和独立日在同一天到来，”共和党的一位主要顾问弗兰克伦茨(Frank Luntz)表示，他最近主持了一场有特朗普在场的共和党候选人集会，“他正度过一生中最快乐的时光。他怎么可能会停止？”

What disturbs senior Republicans most is that he can afford to keep on going. With a net worth of between “TEN BILLION DOLLARS”, according to Mr Trump’s campaign (upper case included), and $2.3bn according to the lowest estimates, Mr Trump has more than enough to carry him to November 2016. A third party bid would cost about $200m.

最让资深共和党人头疼的，是特朗普有财力继续下去。据特朗普的竞选团队所说，其净资产在“一百亿美元”左右（其团队特意用大写字母强调“TEN BILLION DOLLARS”），而据最低估测，其净资产也有23亿美元。特朗普坚持到2016年11月绰绰有余。第三方竞选一般需要花费2亿美元。

He is also impervious to scandal. “What the angry demographic loves about Trump is that he stokes and provokes the establishment but does way better than them,” says Mr Luntz. “He lives the lifestyle many of his supporters dream about.”

他也不受丑闻影响。“愤怒的人群喜欢特朗普的一点是，他激怒和挑衅体制内人士，但又比那些人做得更好，”伦茨表示，“他的生活方式是他的许多支持者梦寐以求的。”

Among the latter, Mr Trump is best known for his hosting of The Apprentice, a television show in which he judged a group of about 16 business contestants who are competing for a $250,000 prize. He ended each episode by telling one of them: “You’re fired.”

对于他的支持者，特朗普最为人所知的是他主持的电视节目《学徒》(The Apprentice)。在节目中，他要考察大约16名商业参赛者，最后挑出一人获得25万美元奖金。每期节目都以他告诉一位参赛者 “你被解雇了”收尾。

By coincidence, 16 is also the size of the Republican field. By the end of the series there was only one person left standing. Could politics be imitating reality TV?

巧合的是，共和党总统候选人也有16位。在一系列环节以后，也只会有一个人留下。政治会不会模仿电视真人秀？