這兩天，華盛頓街頭巷尾的每一個人幾乎都在談論同一個問題—“神秘作者”到底是誰？
與此同時，高級官員們又在紛紛否認—“這不是我寫的！”
In the last two days, Washington was being consumed by a wild guessing game as to the identity of the writer, and swift denials of involvement in the op-ed came Thursday from top administration officials, including from vice president Mike Pence's office, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Dan Coats, director of national intelligence, and other cabinet members.
Screenshot of the New York Times anonymous opinion piece from a White House senior staff member /CGTN Photo
美國當地時間9月5日，《紐約時報》發表一篇匿名特朗普政府高級官員的評論文章，批評特朗普無德、魯莽、衝動、行為方式有害國家利益。文章中提到，白宮內部諸多高官都在奮力抵抗總統的決定，試圖挫敗他的部分議程。
On Wednesday afternoon, The New York Times posted an anonymous op-ed article titled "I am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration", identifying the author as "a senior official in the Trump administration".
In the op-ed, the author described Trump's leadership style as "impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective".
"Many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations," the author wrote.
Pushing back against explosive reports about his own administration conspiring against him, US President Donald Trump lashed out against the anonymous senior official who wrote a New York Times opinion piece claiming to be part of a "resistance" working "from within" to thwart his most dangerous impulses.
文章發表不到一天，公眾一片譁然。
英國《衛報》寫道，瘋狂從白宮傾瀉而出，《紐約時報》前所未有的文章都在試圖揭露“特朗普是當代不穿衣服的皇帝”。 《華爾街日報》稱，有白宮官員透露，在白宮西翼，高層官員們當天下午取消了所有會議，擠在一起討論如何找到這個人。
"The madness is pouring out of the White House now," The Guardian said later on, "An anonymous New York Times op-ed by a senior Trump administration official and an explosive new book reveal just how bad things are around the US president".
面對羞辱，特朗普憤怒反擊併發推文稱之為叛徒，“如果這個白宮高級官員真的存在，那出於國家安全的考慮，《紐約時報》也應該把他交給政府”。
Trump, appearing at an unrelated event Wednesday at the White House, lashed out at the Times for publishing the op-ed. /VCG Photo
Trump was furious, tweeting Thursday morning that "The Deep State and the Left, and their vehicle, the Fake News Media, are going crazyy - & they don't know what to do".
On Wednesday night, Trump tweeted a demand that if "the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for national security purposes, turn him/her over to the government at once!" White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called on the "coward" who wrote the piece to "do the right thing and resign."
Trump, appearing at an unrelated event Wednesday at the White House, lashed out at the Times for publishing the op-ed. /VCG Photo
可這個人到底是誰？
CNN列出了13個可能寫這封匿名信的人，包括白宮辦公廳主任凱利、副總統彭斯、白宮法律顧問麥克加恩、國防部長馬蒂斯，甚至是特朗普的女兒伊萬卡、女婿庫什納以及第一夫人梅拉尼婭。
In an analysis by CNN, the author could be one of 13 people, which includes virtually many people in the Trump White House.
The text of the op-ed was pulled apart for clues: The writer is identified as an "administration official;" does that mean a person who works outside the White House? The references to Russia and the late Sen. John McCain-do they suggest someone working in national security? Does the writing style sound like someone who worked at a think tank? In a tweet, the Times used the pronoun "he" to refer to the writer; does that rule out all women?
The newspaper later said the tweet referring to "he" had been "drafted by someone who is not aware of the author's identity, including the gender, so the use of 'he' was an error."
第二天，高官們的接連否認更像是各種形式的誓言。
副總統發言人賈羅德•阿根(Jarrod Agen)表示，“神秘作者”不是副總統邁克•彭斯(Mike Pence)。同一時間，正在印度出訪的美國國務卿邁克•蓬佩奧（Mike Pompeo）表示如果他覺得他已無法“執行指揮官的意圖”的話，他會辭職。“我不得不告訴你，我認為媒體在這方面做出的削弱本屆政府的努力令人非常不安”，蓬佩奧說。
國土安全部部長克爾斯蒂恩•M•尼爾森(Kirstjen M. Nielsen)的發言人表示，“尼爾森沒有寫這篇文章, 她正忙著保衛祖國，而不是撰寫這種匿名且虛假的文章。”
國防部、財政部和住房與城市發展部的新聞官員也代表他們的上司進行了否認。
The US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, who is in India now, denied writing the anonymous opinion piece, saying, "It's not mine." He accused the media of trying to undermine the Trump administration and said he found that "incredibly disturbing".
"Secretary Nielsen is focused on leading the men & women of DHS and protecting the homeland – not writing anonymous & false opinion pieces for the New York Times," Tyler Houlton, press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said in a statement.
Dan Coats, director of National Intelligence later issued his own denial, followed by Defense Secretary James Mattis, Housing Secretary Ben Carson, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, budget director Mick Mulvaney and others; and with several prominent administration members delivering on-the-record denials, the focus could now fall on other senior aides to do the same, with questions raised about those who stay silent.
之後，白宮新聞秘書薩拉•赫卡比•桑德斯(Sarah Huckabee Sanders)在推特上發文表示了極大的憤怒，並說若想知道“這個沒膽量的懦夫”到底是誰，應給《紐約時報》打電話，然後附上了電話號碼。
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tried to head off reporters' inquiries of Trump officials, tweeting that the questions should be aimed at The New York Times, which she said was "complicit in this deceitful act." Trump, appearing at an unrelated event Wednesday at the White House, lashed out at the Times for publishing the op-ed.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders's twitter screenshot /CGTN Photo
而在此之前，包括紐約時報在內的諸多媒體甚少發佈匿名評論文章，因此有人猜測，不透露作者姓名也是為了保護其安全。
Actually, it is highly unusual for the western media to publish an anonymous column.
"It is rare for editorial pages to allow writers to write anonymously at all, and such decisions have often been reserved for situations where it is believed the author’s safety could be endangered", Wall Street Journal said on September 6.
“So much of the value of an op-ed is the weight the author brings to the issue through their experience. If you don’t know who that person is, it is very hard for the reader to determine whether it is important or not,” said Greg Kesich, editorial page editor of the Portland Press Herald.
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