又中又英 | Slippery slope | 褚簡寧
It is a slippery slope to mix religion with politics. There is always blowback for people who mix the two. A slippery slope describes a bad situation or habit that gets much worse after it starts. The word “blowback” means unintended negative reactions such as criticism. Religion has become a hot topic in the US after President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth mixed it with politics. Trump posted an AI picture of himself as Jesus on social media. He also started a war of words with Pope Leo.
Trump deleted the AI picture of himself as Jesus after blowback from Catholics and other Christian groups, including his right-wing Christian supporters. Hegseth quoted from the Bible several times in framing the US war with Iran as a holy war, saying God is on the side of the US military. He also faced blowback from Christians and non-Christian Americans. Both Trump and Hegseth found themselves on a slippery slope when they mixed religion with politics. Many right-wing social media influencers, or KOLs, who were loyal to Trump have now cut and run.
The expression “cut and run” used this way means to leave quickly to avoid trouble or danger. Those who have cut and run by no longer supporting Trump include Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly who both used to work for Fox News. Trump loyalists who have cut and run are using their social media shows to attack Trump for starting what they say was a war of choice against Iran. Trump has counter-attacked by calling his former allies stupid and losers.
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將宗教和政治混合在一起，會有滑坡效應（slippery slope）。那些將兩者混合在一起的人，總會遭受反彈（blowback）。A slippery slope是形容一個壞的情況或惡習一旦開始，就每況越下，變得越來越差。Blowback一字則指一些意料之外的負面反應例如批評。在美國總統特朗普和國防部長赫格塞斯將宗教和政治混集在一起說之後，宗教就變成了美國的熱門話題。特朗普在社交媒體上貼了他自己化身成耶穌的人工智能（AI）圖片。他也跟教宗良十四世展開了口水戰。
在天主教和其他基督教群體，包括他那些右翼基督教支持者的反彈（blowback）過後，特朗普刪除了自己化身耶穌的AI圖。赫格塞斯有好幾次引述聖經經文，將美國與伊朗的戰爭構想成聖戰，說上帝站在美軍的一邊。他也得面對基督徒與非基督徒美國人的反彈（blowback）。特朗普與赫格塞斯將宗教與政治混在一起時，都發現自己墮入了滑坡效應（slippery slope）。許多曾經對特朗普忠心耿耿的右翼社交媒體網紅或KOL，現在都已cut and run。
習語cut and run在這裏是指落跑以避開麻煩或危險。那些脫身逃跑（cut and run），不再支持特朗普的人包括塔克．卡爾森和梅根．凱利，他們都曾效力於霍士新聞。特朗普那些落荒而逃（cut and run）的忠實支持者，現正用他們的社交媒體節目，去攻擊特朗普對伊朗開展了一場他們稱為「選擇之戰」的戰爭。特朗普則反擊，叫他的前盟友為愚蠢和失敗者。
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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻
