Winston Churchill is credited with saying that America does the right thing after exhausting the alternatives. Donald Trump has turned that aphorism on its head. In the past 10 days, he has all but incinerated 80 years of postwar American leadership. Those who thought America was a friend or ally, notably Ukraine and Nato, are dropping once safe assumptions to cope with a world in which America is an unabashed predator. Countries that were treated by Washington as adversaries, notably Vladimir Putin’s Russia, are suddenly America’s friend.
“在尝试了所有选择后，美国总会做出正确的决定。”这句话被认为出自温斯顿•丘吉尔(Winston Churchill)。唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)将这句格言颠倒过来。在过去10天里，他几乎毁掉了战后80年来的美国领导地位。向来以为美国是朋友或盟友的实体，尤其是乌克兰和北约(NATO)，正在放弃曾经万无一失的假设，转而应对美国是一个肆无忌惮的掠食者的世界。过去被华盛顿方面视为对手的国家，尤其是弗拉基米尔•普京(Vladimir Putin)的俄罗斯，突然成了美国的朋友。