Until recently most of the world yearned for the US to become a more normal country. It had seen enough of George W Bush’s freedom agenda to put it off American exceptionalism for good. People should be careful what they wish for. Donald Trump may be the most gaffe-prone — and offensive — US presidential nominee in history. But he is also the first to scorn the belief that America’s mission should be to uphold universal values. It is not clear he even thinks such values exist. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, is their unabashed cheerleader. “I believe with all my heart that America is an exceptional country,” she said in June. “We are still, in Lincoln’s words, the last best hope of earth.”
直到最近，世界大部分地區(qū)都渴望美國(guó)變成一個(gè)更平常的國(guó)家。他們受夠了喬治?W?布什(George W Bush)在全球推動(dòng)自由的議程，以至對(duì)美國(guó)例外論心生反感。人們應(yīng)該小心自己的期盼。唐納德?特朗普(Donald Trump)可能是美國(guó)歷史上最出言不遜——以及最具攻擊性——的總統(tǒng)候選人。但他也是第一個(gè)對(duì)以下信念——美國(guó)的使命應(yīng)是維護(hù)普世價(jià)值觀——表現(xiàn)出不屑的總統(tǒng)候選人。我們甚至不清楚他是否認(rèn)為存在這些價(jià)值觀。另一方面，希拉里?克林頓(Hillary Clinton)則是這些價(jià)值觀的堅(jiān)定擁護(hù)者。“我由衷地相信美國(guó)是一個(gè)例外的國(guó)家，”她6月時(shí)表示，“我們?nèi)允恰脕啿?林肯(Abraham Lincoln)的話說——地球上最后、最好的希望。”