Republican Donald Trump’s victory to become the next American president has made the defeated Democrats bring back a word they invented when Trump first became president in 2016. The word is “Trump-proof”. The Democratic Party knows it will be on the ropes during the four years of Trump’s presidency. That’s why party leaders in states where the Democratic Party has strong support are Trump-proofing their states. To Trump-proof means to protect against Trump’s policies. To be on the ropes means to be in a very difficult situation or doing very badly and likely to fail.
The phrase originated from boxing. A losing boxer is sometimes forced to the ropes of the boxing ring where he is at great risk of losing the match. Leaders of liberal states such as New York, California, and Illinois have joined forces to protect their states against Trump’s right-wing policies. They want to protect liberal policies such as abortion rights, transgender rights, the environment, and immigration. The word “gender” refers to being either male or female. Transgenders are people whose gender identity differs from that of their birth sex. President Joe Biden is also trying to Trump-proof his policies before his presidency ends on January 20.
Biden’s top priority is to send billions of dollars of US weapons to Ukraine because Trump has said he may not support Ukraine in its war against Russian invaders. But White House officials know it is almost impossible to Trump-proof Biden’s policies because Trump could easily reverse them when he takes over as president. Biden’s aides know all they can do is throw sand in the gears, which means to cause problems or delay something from happening.
共和黨的唐納德‧特朗普勝出成為下一任美國總統，令敗選的民主黨重新使用一個字，是二零一六年特朗普第一次當選總統時他們創作的。那個字是“Trump-proof”。民主黨知道，在這四年特朗普的任期內，自己將會面臨困境（on the ropes）。因此在那些強力支持民主黨的州分，黨領袖都在Trump-proofing他們的州——to Trump-proof是指去抵擋特朗普的政策，免受其影響。To be on the ropes是指處於非常艱難的處境中，又或表現差勁，即將失敗。
這個短語來自拳擊比賽，一個處於下風的拳手有時會被逼至拳擊台的圍繩上，很大可能會輸掉比賽。紐約、加州、伊利諾州這些開放自由的州分，領袖們都在合力保護他們的州對抗特朗普的右翼政策。他們想守護自由主義的政策，例如墮胎權、跨性別（transgender）權益、環境以及入境移民。Gender一字是解作男或女的性別； transgenders則是跨性別人士，他們的性別認同跟出生時的性別有所不同。總統祖‧拜登同樣在一月二十日自己的任期結束前，努力保障政策免受特朗普的影響（Trump-proof）。
拜登的首要任務是向烏克蘭提供美國數以十億美元計的軍事武器，因為特朗普說了他不會支持烏克蘭對抗俄羅斯的入侵。但白宮官員都知道，要完全保護拜登的政策免受特朗普的影響（Trump-proof）幾乎是不可能的，因為特朗普一接任總統，可以輕而易舉地逆轉那些政策。拜登的助手們都知道，他們可以做的都是 throw sand in the gears，向機械的齒輪丟沙，意即盡量阻礙或拖延某事的發生。
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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻
