In the last minutes before the handover of power at the White House, there is one person who is still running against time to stir up conflicts and confrontation in a show of his "last-day madness". It is Pompeo, the outgoing US Secretary of State who prides himself on "lying, cheating, and stealing".
美国政权交接进入倒计时，有一个人仍争分夺秒地挑起冲突、制造对抗，上演所谓的“末日疯狂”。他就是以“撒谎、欺骗、偷窃”为荣的美国国务卿蓬佩奥。
In the past ten days and more, Pompeo took an intense series of outrageous moves, from lifting the restrictions on US official engagement with Taiwan to re-designating Cuba as a "state sponsor to terrorism" and to ramping up the already harsh sanctions on Iran.
就在过去十多天，从取消美国官员与中国台湾接触的限制，到将古巴重新列为“支持恐怖主义国家”，再到加码对伊朗本就已经十分严苛的制裁，蓬佩奥进行了一系列紧锣密鼓的操作。
Moreover, he took social media as the stage of his farewell show by tweeting more than 60 posts in three days, bragging about what he had "accomplished" on his so-called China issue in the past few years, and maliciously attacking the Communist Party of China and China’s policies, displaying unimaginable hysteria.
不仅如此，他还把社交媒体当作最后的秀场，三天内连发60多条推文，吹嘘自己过去几年在对华问题上的所谓“政绩”，恶毒攻击中国执政党以及中国各项政策，歇斯底里到无以复加的地步。
It's not hard to see for whom Mr. Pompeo was putting up the show. As many American media analyzed, he was trying to put shackles on the incoming Biden administration through the "diplomatic blitzkrieg". The New York Times described the Secretary of State as "leaving no bridges unburned on the way out the door," and Foreign Policy cited American officials privately calling what he did the "fire sale diplomacy".
他的这番表演想给谁看？其实并不难猜。不少美媒分析说，蓬佩奥正试图通过“外交闪电战”来牵制下任美国政府。《纽约时报》形容蓬佩奥正在烧毁每一座桥并留下无数烂摊子。美国《外交政策》称，他的这种做法被美国官员私下形容为“廉价的甩卖外交”。
Pompeo’s hysteria is a reflection of his desperation. The recent storming of the Capitol Hill lent a lethal blow to the political life of the outgoing American leader. Pompeo, as his right-hand man, made a last-minute attempt at political speculation afterward and tried to draw a line between the leaving leader and him, but it was too late. The “last-day madness”, including boasting his so-called achievements and stirring up confrontation, was nothing more than what he deemed as the last straw for self-salvage.
蓬佩奥的歇斯底里，其实更多是因为走投无路。近期发生的国会山遭暴力事件，对美国领导人政治生命可谓致命一击。被视为其心腹的蓬佩奥，虽然事后想再政治投机一把、与美国领导人划清界限，但显然已经来不及。此番以吹嘘“政绩”与挑动对抗为主调的“末日疯狂”，可看作是他进行自救的最后一搏。
All his crazy moves were aimed at one ultimate goal. While laying obstacles for the incoming administration, Pompeo was also stocking up “political legacy” for his own presidential election in 2024, said Washington Post, which continued to cite an American official it interviewed as saying bluntly that Pompeo was saying that he would uphold as his election program in 2024.
这一切，当然是指向一个终极目标。《华盛顿邮报》称，蓬佩奥在给下届政府设障碍的同时，也在为自己2024年竞选美国总统累积“政治遗产”。一位美国官员在接受《华盛顿邮报》采访时更是直言，蓬佩奥正在把这些作为2024年的竞选纲领。
As a matter of fact, Pompeo’s ambitions to climb to the pinnacle of power has never been a secret in the US. In the past three years or so, he kept instigating confrontation and division to pander to the right-wing forces; he unprecedentedly attended the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa in the capacity of Secretary of State in an embarrassing eagerness to please the evangelical Christians; he hosted “Madison Dinners” with taxpayer dollars to ingratiate himself with financial groups and the media; and he, violating the State Department’s tradition of neutrality, joined the Republican assembly from Israel by delivering a speech on video, trying hard to brown-nose his Republican boss.
事实上，蓬佩奥想要登上权力之巅的野心在美国国内从不是什么秘密。过去近三年，他不断挑动对立与分裂，以迎合美国国内右翼势力；他史无前例地以国务卿身份前往艾奥瓦州参加“家庭领袖峰会”，不遗余力地讨好福音派选民；他利用公款大搞“麦迪逊晚宴”，以拉拢财团和媒体；他甚至打破美国国务院中立的传统，在以色列以视频演讲方式参加共和党大会，使劲拍总统“老板”的马屁。
When the top diplomat of the world’s only superpower puts his personal political ambitions over national interests, his diplomatic policy is doubtlessly enormous damage to the whole world. During his nearly 3-year term, Pompeo flamed up hatred and division everywhere and staged one political farce after another in the international community in collusion with other “political arsonists” at Washington, making his country a global laughing stock.
当全球超级大国的首席外交官将个人政治野心凌驾于国家利益之上，他的外交政策对整个世界来说无疑是个巨大危害。近三年任期内，蓬佩奥到处煽动仇恨、制造分裂，与华盛顿的其他“政治纵火犯”一起，在国际社会上演了一场又一场政治闹剧，也让美国出尽了洋相。
The world sees clearly that the American diplomacy under Pompeo’s lead has pushed unilateralism to the extreme and made a habit of quitting international organizations and treaties, causing rare damages to the international order. He has stoked the new Cold War and suppressed and besieged China every chance he could in a futile attempt to curb China’s development. He has torn apart the Iran nuclear deal and is considered the black hand behind the assassination of the senior Iranian commander. He has also continuously intimidated and suppressed European countries and driven them farther away from the US.
人们看到，他主导下的美国外交将单边主义演绎到极致，退群毁约成瘾，对国际秩序造成前所未有的破坏；他渲染新冷战，处处打压围堵中国，妄图遏制中国发展；他破坏伊朗核协议，被认为是暗杀伊朗高级将领的幕后推手；他还不断恐吓打压欧洲国家，致使美国与盟友关系不断恶化……
With his diplomacy approach riddled with intimidation, lies and sanctions, Pompeo has shown the world Washington’s true color of arrogance, hypocrisy and imperiousness from under the veil of “democracy”, “liberty” and “human rights” that it has been preaching.
凭借着恐吓外交、谎言外交、制裁外交，蓬佩奥让全世界见识了华盛顿傲慢、虚伪和专横的真面目，狠狠撕下了美国所标榜的“民主”“自由”“人权”的遮羞布。
No wonder the New York Times commented that Pompeo had damaged the reputation the US State Department has established through centuries of services and sacrifices, and The Atlantic Monthly deplored bluntly, “we are living in a failed state.” Even media in Kansas, the hometown of Pompeo, commented on his tenure as the country is viewed with a mixture of sorrow, anger and pity.
难怪《纽约时报》评价说，蓬佩奥损毁了美国国务院用几个世纪的服务和牺牲建立起的声誉。《大西洋月刊》直言，“我们生活在一个失败的国家。”就连蓬佩奥的老家堪萨斯州的媒体也评论说，蓬佩奥的任期使世界眼中的美国“充满了悲伤、愤怒和怜悯”。
But the bell has tolled. No matter how crazy Pompeo acts now, it’s just a last-gasp struggle. He bragged about how well history would remember what he had accomplished, but actually what history will remember is exactly how he had harmed the whole world’s interests in service of his personal selfish agenda.
“下课铃”响，蓬佩奥再怎么疯狂表演，也只是软弱无力的最后挣扎。他吹嘘说，历史会记住他任期内所取得的“成就”，但历史记住的恰恰是他为一己之私损害全世界利益的罪证。
Good-bye and good riddance to Mike Pompeo, the worst Secretary of State in US history!
再见！再也不见，美国史上最差国务卿。
