President Donald Trump has thrown the US government into crisis by accusing his predecessor, Barack Obama, of wiretapping his phones during the election campaign. That the accusation was made in an early-morning tweet does not make the situation any less serious. Nor does the fact that Mr Trump has tweeted nonsense in the past. His false claim that millions of people voted illegally in November’s election was not a direct and specific allegation against a sitting president. The sources of and evidence for this accusation against Mr Obama must now be established. If they are not, the claims can only have a corrosive effect on trust in the institutions of government, without which the country cannot function.
美國總統唐納•川普(Donald Trump)指責其前任巴拉克•歐巴馬(Barack Obama)在大選期間監聽他的電話，此事令美國政府陷入危機。這份指控出現在川普凌晨發佈的推文中，但這絲毫無損於情況的嚴肅性。同樣無損於這一點的是：川普曾經在推文中胡說八道過。他曾錯誤地宣稱數百萬人在去年11月的大選中非法投票，但那並非針對一位在任總統的直接而具體的指控。現在必須確定針對歐巴馬的這一指控的來源和證據。如果不確定這兩點，那麼這番言論只能破壞人們對政府體制的信任，沒有這一體制，這個國家將無法運轉。