Midterm defeats can upend US presidencies. Think of Newt Gingrich’s new model Republicans in 1994, Nancy Pelosi’s Democratic wave in 2006, or the Tea Party sweep of 2010. These sounded the death knell for the domestic agendas of Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama respectively. If Democrats lose next week, a similar fate would befall Joe Biden. Yet the 2022 race belongs in a class of its own. Roughly half the Republicans running for federal or statewide office believe the presidency was stolen from Donald Trump in 2020. That means America’s system itself is on the ballot next Tuesday.
中期选举失利可能会搅乱美国总统的议程。想一想1994年纽特•金里奇(Newt Gingrich)发起的共和党革命，2006年南希•佩洛西(Nancy Pelosi)领导的民主党浪潮，或者2010年茶党(Tea Party)的异军突起。这些剧变分别为比尔•克林顿(Bill Clinton)、乔治•W•布什（George W Bush，小布什）和巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)的国内议程敲响了丧钟。如果民主党下周惨败，乔•拜登(Joe Biden)将面临类似的命运。然而2022年的中期选举比较独特。在竞选联邦或州级公职的共和党人中，约有一半人相信唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)在2020年被窃取了总统资格。这意味着美国政治制度本身将在下周二面临投票。