Blockers: Rebels in the Deep State

「《阻撓者》是理解整個川普現象最有趣的入口。」──麥可・路易士

「阻撓者」(Blockers)。 這可不是一句稱讚。在新的華府，這是你可能被貼上的最糟糕標籤——尤其當你身為聯邦政府雇員，還想保住自己的工作時。
所謂的「阻撓者」，就是前朝留下來的人、阻礙改革的絆腳石、無法領會新時代訊息的人——最重要的是，不屬於這裡的人。

麥可．路易士找到了六位這樣的人。

《阻撓者》講述的是一群懷抱使命感的公務員。他們深信自己從事的是國家不可或缺的工作，卻突然發現，自己已經不再受到歡迎。其中一人致力於保護國人最敏感的稅務資料不落入有心人士手中；另一人確保政客與公務員都按規範行事；有人研究出如何防止森林大火吞噬郊區社區；還有人協助解開囊腫性纖維化（cystic fibrosis）的醫學謎團。

還有一位，是保全警衛。

曾將次級房貸危機寫得扣人心弦(《大賣空》)，又把棒球數據化作詩篇(《魔球》)的作家，如今將川普第二任政府前兩年的故事，寫成一部關於聯邦公務員的驚悚作品，或許並不令人意外。

但他還做了另一件事。他向讀者提問：如果這些克盡職守的公務員已無法在當今的政府體制下生存，這說明了甚麼？

麥可・路易士以一貫的寫作特色：不急著給答案，而是透過具體人物的故事，讓一個原本看似屬於政治攻防的問題，最後變成一個關於制度、價值與公民社會的提問。

"Blockers is, in my view, the most interesting way inside the whole Trump phenomenon" —— Michael Lewis introduced Blockers

An inside look at the early days of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, as told by the public servants it targeted and one of America’s best storytellers.

Blockers. It wasn’t a compliment. In the new Washington, it was the worst thing you could be―especially if you worked in the federal government and wanted to keep your job. A Blocker was a holdover, an impediment, someone who didn't get the message―and, most of all, someone who didn't belong.

Michael Lewis found six of them.

Blockers is the story of people who believed they had a calling, who were convinced they were doing something the country couldn’t do without, and then discovered they were no longer wanted. One kept Americans’ most sensitive tax data out of the wrong hands and another made sure that politicians and civil servants played by the rules. One figured out how to stop wildfires from destroying suburban neighborhoods, another helped uncover the mysteries of cystic fibrosis.

There was also a security guard.

It should come as no surprise that the writer who made subprime mortgages gripping (The Big Short) and who turned baseball statistics into poetry (Moneyball) could transform the first two years of the second Trump administration into a thriller about federal employees. But he does.

And he does something else. He puts before us a clear question: If these public servants can’t survive in government today, then what does that say about us?