特朗普遇刺未遂：一幅定格时代的影像
文摘
2024-07-14 15:14
美国
美国纽约客杂志网站于2024年7月13日发表题为《特朗普遇刺未遂：一幅定格时代的影像》的文章。以下观点不代表任何译者立场，现将全文翻译如下：The Attempt on Donald Trump’s Life and an Image That Will LastThe bloodied former President, his fist raised, flanked by an American flag, is already an indelible portrait of our era of political crisis and conflict.这位前总统面带血迹却高举拳头，身旁飘扬着美国国旗。这幅画面俨然成为我们这个政治危机与冲突时代的永恒写照By Benjamin Wallace-WellsPhotograph by Evan Vucci / AP
Almost immediately after shots rang out at Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the former President flinched onstage, grabbed at his face, and dropped to the ground. In the chaotic moments that followed, Trump was helped to his feet by Secret Service agents, and delivered definitive proof of life: he raised his right fist toward the sky and mouthed to the crowd, “Fight.” In the news photo that circulated shortly after, taken by Evan Vucci, of the Associated Press, Trump is set against a clear blue sky and four Secret Service agents clutch at him, one of whom stares directly at the camera, his eyes shielded by a pair of black sunglasses. An American flag appears to almost float over the scene. Trump’s lips are pursed, his eyes narrowed, and his chin slightly raised. There are streaks of blood atop his right ear, and on his cheek. He is looking out far beyond what the camera can take in—at the public, at the future—and he is defiant. Whoever tried to kill him failed. It is already the indelible image of our era of political crisis and conflict.在宾夕法尼亚州巴特勒市特朗普集会现场枪声响起的瞬间，这位前总统在台上本能地瑟缩了一下，捂住脸，随即倒地。混乱中，特勤人员将他搀扶起身，而他则以一个决定性的举动证明自己仍然活着：右拳高举，对着人群无声地喊出“战斗”。美联社摄影师埃文·武奇拍摄的新闻照片很快传遍全球。画面中，特朗普站在一片蔚蓝的天空下，四名特勤人员紧紧抓着他，其中一人直视镜头，黑色墨镜遮住了他的眼睛。一面美国国旗仿佛漂浮在场景之上。特朗普嘴唇紧闭，双眼微眯，下巴微微抬起。他的右耳上方和脸颊上沾有血迹。他的目光望向镜头之外更远的地方，投向公众，投向未来，神情坚毅。刺杀者的企图已然失败。这幅影响俨然成为我们这个政治危机和冲突时代的永恒画面。Other images, screenshots, and fragments of information rushed onto social media and filled out the story. In one, a Secret Service agent kneeling on the grass turns his body and extends a finger, presumably to identify the shooter, who had reportedly taken up a position on a rooftop outside the rally. In another, taken just after Trump fell to the stage, the former President’s head is framed, a few inches off of the ground with blood dribbling down his cheek, between someone’s legs. And, in a third, taken seconds after Trump rose to his feet, he is being held by several Secret Service agents who have surrounded him; one has both hands over Trump’s head to protect him, but it almost looks as if someone is praying over him. Each of these photographs freezes the moment, draining it of the chaos that is apparent in the live streams. They also add a sense of foreboding; the figures in these images, and anyone who views them, are all waiting, with trepidation, for what comes next. The Trump campaign soon released a statement that said, “He is fine and is being checked out at a local medical facility.” Everyone should agree that that is good news. What happened is horrifying. That flag, hanging at an odd angle, almost upside down, offers a sense of the eeriness of this moment, and of the general dread.社交媒体上随后涌现出其他照片、截图和零散信息，逐渐拼凑出事件的全貌。一张照片显示一名跪在草地上的特勤人员转身伸出手指，似乎在指认据报道藏身于集会场外楼顶的枪手。另一张照片捕捉到特朗普倒地后，头部距离地面几英寸，鲜血顺着脸颊滑落，画面被某人的双腿框住。还有一张照片拍摄于特朗普起身后几秒，他被几名特勤人员团团围住，其中一人双手护住特朗普的头部，但看起来却像是在为他祈祷。这些照片定格了瞬间，消解了直播中显而易见的混乱。这也增添了一种不安感；照片中的人物，以及所有观看照片的人，都在忐忑不安地等待接下来会发生什么。特朗普竞选团队很快发表声明称，“他没事，正在当地医疗机构接受检查。”我们每个人都应该同意这是个好消息。发生的一切令人震惊。那面悬挂角度奇怪、几乎倒置的国旗，更是凸显了这一刻的诡异氛围和普遍的恐慌情绪。In an image taken just after Trump fell to the stage, his head is framed between someone’s legs, with blood dribbling down his cheek.Photograph by Anna Moneymaker / Getty
图片显示特朗普倒地后，头部被某人双腿框住，鲜血顺着脸颊滑落。Some of the elements in Vucci’s image are familiar from the countless others of Trump—the red maga hat, the wisps of hair, the mouth turned down into a frown, the chin thrust forward. Ever since Trump became a politician—and even before that—the most familiar images of him have been designed and disseminated by those who oppose him, to emphasize his insolence or his aura of threat. Even those which his supporters might celebrate, such as the confident pose Trump struck for a mug shot last August, after being indicted for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia, are often in settings that Trump himself would not have chosen—and are thus not fully his own. Vucci’s photograph is an emblem of this tumultuous age, when the long pattern of political violence in America has intensified. Some of the most recent targets include the Republican congressional leader Steve Scalise and Michigan’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer; on January 6, 2021, former Vice-President Mike Pence, the former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and other government leaders all narrowly escaped the baying crowds at the Capitol insurrection.武奇拍摄的这张照片中，一些元素我们再熟悉不过了——红色的MAGA棒球帽、飘逸的头发、下撇的嘴角、向前伸的下巴。自从特朗普涉足政坛，甚至更早之前，最广为人知的特朗普形象往往是由他的反对者设计和传播的，目的是强调他的傲慢或威胁感。即便是他的支持者可能会称赞的形象，比如去年八月因涉嫌密谋推翻佐治亚州2020年大选结果而被起诉后拍摄的那张自信满满的警察局照，也往往是在特朗普本人不会选择的场合拍摄的——因此并不完全是他自己塑造的形象。武奇的这张照片是这个动荡时代的象征，在这个时代，美国长期存在的政治暴力模式愈发激烈。最近的受害者包括共和党国会领袖史蒂夫·斯卡利斯和密歇根州州长格雷琴·惠特默；2021年1月6日，前副总统迈克·彭斯、前众议院议长南希·佩洛西和其他政府领导人在国会山暴乱中都险些遭遇暴徒。But what makes the image is Trump. In its surface details, it carries echoes of the marines at Iwo Jima. In the former President’s bloody defiance, it even evokes Rocky Balboa. On that stage, Trump seemed well aware of the image he was creating. It is an image that captures him as he would like to be seen, so perfectly, in fact, that it may outlast all the rest. 但这幅照片的灵魂是特朗普本人。从表面细节来看，它让人联想到硫磺岛上的海军陆战队士兵。而前总统带血的倔强神情，甚至让人想起洛奇·巴尔博亚。在那个舞台上，特朗普似乎深知自己正在创造怎样的形象。这幅照片如此完美地捕捉到了他希望呈现给世人的样子，以至于它可能会超越所有其他影像，经久不衰。♦
