Politics always involves a measure of performance. And on that score, few moments rival the one on Wednesday morning at the White House, when President Biden and President-elect Donald J. Trump pretended in public to like and respect each other — for a total of 29 seconds.

政治总是少不了作秀。周三上午在白宫发生的一幕堪称政治作秀的绝唱——面对公众，拜登总统和候任总统特朗普假装喜欢和尊重彼此，时间长达29秒。

They shook hands despite years of animus and recriminations. Mr. Trump has called Mr. Biden “crooked” and a “communist,” and has vowed to investigate his actions in office. Mr. Biden has said Mr. Trump is a “dictator” who tried to steal an election and would “sacrifice our democracy” in his pursuit of power.

尽管双方多年来对彼此存有敌意，而且互相指责，他们还是握了手。特朗普曾说拜登“不老实”，是个“共产分子”，并放话要调查他在任期间的行为。拜登则说过特朗普是一个“独裁者”，试图窃取选举，在追求权力的过程中会“牺牲我们的民主”。

On Wednesday, at least, the nation’s 46th president was determined to uphold the traditions that have long surrounded a peaceful transfer of power — offering to do “everything we can to make sure you’re accommodated, have what you need” — even if they were traditions that Mr. Trump refused to extend to him four years earlier.

至少在周三，美国第46任总统决心维护长期以来围绕和平移交权力的传统，提出要“尽我们所能配合你，满足你的需求”——即使四年前特朗普曾拒绝以这样的传统待他。

Mr. Trump responded as they posed in front of a roaring fireplace in the Oval Office: “I appreciate very much a transition that’s so smooth, it’ll be as smooth as you can get.”

特朗普回应说，“我很感激会有如此顺畅的过渡，我们会尽可能平稳地过渡。”当时，他们正在椭圆形办公室一个熊熊燃烧的壁炉前摆姿态拍照。

Up until less than two weeks ago, the president-elect regularly derided Mr. Biden as weak, infirm and demented. On Wednesday, he referred to the president merely as “Joe,” offering his appreciation for the gracious hospitality.

不到两周前，这位候任总统还经常嘲笑拜登软弱、虚弱和痴呆。周三，他以“乔”称呼拜登，并对后者的盛情款待表示感谢。

It was a remarkable half minute, followed by a closed-door meeting of the two men, along with their chiefs of staff, that lasted almost two hours. But beneath the public disguise, both men were dealing with starkly different realities.

这是非同寻常的半分钟，随后是两人及其幕僚长的闭门会议，持续了近两个小时。但在公然的伪装之下，两人面对的是截然不同的现实。

For Mr. Trump, it was a heady, I-told-you-so moment of political resurrection after a defeat he had never really accepted. And for Mr. Biden and his staff, it was a grim, how-is-this-happening day that left them feeling defeated and in despair.

对特朗普来说，这是一个令人陶醉的、“我早就告诉过你”的政治复兴时刻。而对拜登和他的团队来说，这是一个灰暗的、“怎么会这样”的一天，让他们感到气馁和绝望。

“Rough day,” one senior aide texted during the meeting, summing up the mood in the West Wing, where Mr. Trump’s new team will soon take over.

“艰难的一天，”一位高级助手在会议期间发短信说，这句话概括了白宫西翼现在的气氛，特朗普的新团队很快就会接管这里了。

Encounters like these are always fraught with tension, placing two rivals next to each other trying to be civil after they had spent months tearing each other down. Herbert Hoover was angry that Franklin D. Roosevelt would not sign onto his approach to the Great Depression during the transition. Jimmy Carter was unimpressed that Ronald Reagan did not take notes during their post-election meeting.

类似这样的会面总是充满紧张气氛，因为在两个对手互相攻击诋毁数月后，双方还要坐在一起，尽量保持文明。赫伯特·胡佛对富兰克林·罗斯福在过渡期间不愿意延续他的大萧条应对策略感到愤怒。吉米·卡特对罗纳德·里根在选举后的会面中不做笔记的行为感到不满。

Eight years ago, the stage was set for a similarly contentious meeting between President Barack Obama and Mr. Trump, then the president-elect.

八年前，奥巴马总统与候任总统特朗普的会面同样充满争议。

Mr. Trump had spent years stoking the birther lie that Mr. Obama had been born outside the United States, which would make him ineligible to be president. Mr. Obama had mocked Mr. Trump mercilessly. When the two men greeted each other, they were surprisingly cordial. But the graciousness between the two men was a show, and did not last. Mr. Trump never sought Mr. Obama’s counsel and the four years of Mr. Trump’s presidency only deepened Mr. Obama’s animosity.

多年来，特朗普一直在煽动奥巴马出生在境外的谎言，这意味着后者没有资格成为美国总统。奥巴马曾无情地嘲笑特朗普。当两个人互相打招呼时，他们出奇地友好。但两个人之间的惺惺相惜不过一场表演，并没有持续太久。特朗普从未寻求过奥巴马的建议，特朗普四年的总统任期只加深了奥巴马的敌意。

Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump might have been expected to bury the tradition of fake graciousness.

人们可能曾预计拜登和特朗普会抛弃假装客气的传统。

It was Mr. Trump, after all, who shrugged off the traditional meeting in 2020, consumed by his false denial of Mr. Biden’s victory. On Wednesday, the two men sat just feet from where Mr. Trump had watched the Capitol being ransacked by his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. Congressional investigators later documented that he had done little to intervene or prevent the violence, watching it unfold for hours on the televisions he had installed.

毕竟，是特朗普在2020年对这个传统会晤不屑一顾，执迷于对拜登胜选的错误否认。周三，两人所坐的地方距离特朗普在2021年1月6日目睹国会大厦遭到支持者洗劫的地方只有几英尺。国会调查人员后来证明，他几乎没有采取任何措施来干预或阻止暴力行动，而是在自己安装的电视前观看了几个小时的事态发展。

When Mr. Biden was inaugurated 14 days later, Mr. Trump did not greet him at the White House, ride with him to the Capitol or take his seat on the stage. Instead, he flew on Marine One from the White House to a jet waiting to take him to his Florida estate.

14天后，当拜登宣誓就职时，特朗普没有在白宫迎接他，没有陪他一起去国会大厦，没有在台上就坐。相反，他乘坐“海军陆战队一号”从白宫出发，然后换乘另一架在等待他的飞机飞往佛罗里达州——他的庄园所在地。

For Mr. Biden, there was plenty of reason to return the favor as he sat next to the ultimate Washington bomb-thrower.

对于拜登来说，当他坐在终极华盛顿破坏分子身旁时，他有充分的理由以牙还牙。

Yet the president is the ultimate institutionalist, having served in Washington for nearly a half-century. He had pitched his candidacy in 2020 as a return to the norms and principles of good behavior that had guided past presidents of both parties. It would have been out of character for Mr. Biden to act the way Mr. Trump had four years earlier — even if he wanted to.

然而，这位在华盛顿任职近半个世纪的总统是个终极制度主义者。他在2020年竞选时宣称，他将回归指导两党前任总统的良好行为规范和准则。如果拜登像四年前的特朗普那样行事，那就不符合他的性格了——即使他想这么做。

Instead, his message to the president-elect was a simple one: “Welcome. Welcome back.”

相反，他对候任总统的信息很简单：“欢迎。欢迎回来。”

Those final words by Mr. Biden were a subtle acknowledgment of his own failure to prevent what he had long said was a threat to the core of American democracy: a return to power by Mr. Trump. For his part, the president-elect made his own oblique reference to their differences.

拜登最后的这番话等于是承认，他未能阻止自己长期以来所称的对美国民主核心的威胁：特朗普的重新掌权。在他看来，候任总统也婉转地提到了双方的分歧。

“Thank you very much,” he said. “And politics is tough, and it’s in many cases, not a very nice world. But it is a nice world today and I appreciate very much a transition that’s so smooth, it’ll be as smooth as you can get. And I very much appreciate that, Joe.”

“非常感谢，”他说。“政治是艰难的，在许多情况下，这并不是一个很美好的世界。但今天的世界是美好的，我很感激会有如此顺畅的过渡，我们会尽可能平稳地过渡。乔，非常感谢你。”

Mr. Biden responded: “You’re welcome.”

拜登回答说：“不客气。

Following the meeting, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said the discussion between the two men had been “cordial,” “gracious” and “substantive.” She said a number of topics had been discussed, including national security and domestic policy. She said Mr. Trump had come with a detailed set of questions for Mr. Biden.

双方会晤结束后，白宫发言人卡琳·让-皮埃尔表示，两人之间的讨论是“友好的”、“亲切的”和“实质性的”。她表示，双方讨论了很多话题，包括国家安全和国内政策。她说，特朗普向拜登提出了一系列详尽问题。

She did not go into detail about the conversation, but said the president had come with his own list, including reminding Mr. Trump of things that remain on the congressional to-do list, including funding the government and passing relief for recent disasters.

她没有透露这次谈话的细节，但表示总统是有备而来的，包括提醒特朗普关于国会待办事项清单上的事情，包括为政府提供资金，以及为最近的灾难提供救济。

After he left the White House, Mr. Trump called the New York Post to describe it. He said that “we got to know each other again” while discussing issues like the war in Ukraine.

离开白宫后，特朗普给《纽约邮报》打电话介绍了双方的会面情况。他说，在讨论乌克兰战争等问题时，“我们重新认识了彼此。”

“I wanted — I asked for his views and he gave them to me,” Mr. Trump said, according to The Post. “Also, we talked very much about the Middle East, likewise. I wanted to know his views on where we are and what he thinks. And he gave them to me, he was very gracious.”

 据《纽约邮报》的报道，特朗普表示：“我想知道——我问他的意见，他告诉了我。此外，我们还谈了很多中东问题。我想了解他对我们现在处境的看法，以及他的想法。他一一分享，非常客气。”

Before the White House meeting, Mr. Trump began his day in Washington in more obviously friendly territory: a gathering of Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Mr. Trump was received in a closed-door meeting near the Capitol by jubilant House Republicans, who gave him a standing ovation as he took the stage and delivered triumphant remarks centered around his own electoral victory.

在白宫会面之前，特朗普在华盛顿一个更为友好的场合开始了他的一天：国会山上的一场共和党立法者的聚会。在国会附近召开的一个闭门会议上，特朗普受到喜气洋洋的众议院共和党人的热烈欢迎，当他走上台，发表围绕自己赢得选举的胜选演讲时，得到了一阵热烈的掌声。

Mr. Trump, 78, who is limited to two terms as president by the Constitution, said, “I suspect I won’t be running again.”

根据宪法，现年78岁的特朗普只能担任两届总统。他说，“我想我不会再参选了。”

Then he joked: “Unless you say, ‘He’s so good we’ve got to figure something else out.’”

然后，他开起了玩笑：“除非你们说，‘他太优秀了，我们得想想别的办法。’”