Question of the Day #1235

Alexander Vindman calls Trump a "useful idiot" for Putin

From the headline of this article at Axios.

  上記の文で、useful idiotの意味は？
In the sentence above, what does "useful idiot" mean?

  答えは、コメントに書いてください。
Write your answer in the Comments.

明日、ここに答えを書きます。
I will add the answer and other remarks here tomorrow.

 

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解答

意味：
英辞郎によると、

〈軽蔑的〉役に立つばか、ばかだが役立つ人◆策略家などから見て「尊敬に値しないが、利用できる人間」。行動力・影響力を持っていて、政治上の作戦の道具として利用できる相手。批判的思考力を持たず、自分が利用されていることに気付かないような人。

   

Answer

According to Merriam-Webster:

a naive or credulous person who can be manipulated or exploited to advance a cause or political agenda

 

Examples

1. It is one task of the KGB [in 1982] to apply its skills of secrecy and deception to projecting the Soviet party's influence. This it does through contacts with legal Communist Parties abroad, with groups sympathetic to Soviet goals, with do-gooders of the type that Lenin once described as "useful idiots" … . — The Wall Street Journal
2. The interesting thing about it all is that both Biden and the fellow Democrats who brought him down, prevailed upon the useful idiots of the Democrat Party to support Harris and exclude all other potential candidates from the democrat process of choosing a president. — Peter Lucas, Boston Herald, 29 July 2024
3. The movie undoubtedly lays the wood on several in Bush’s inner circle — Thandie Newton’s impression of Condoleezza Rice is particularly mean — as W. ponders what happens when a useful idiot falls under the sway of warmongers with bad intel. — Will Leitch, Vulture, 17 Feb. 2025
4. Communist insiders, following Lenin, described people who wanted to believe such fairy tales as "useful idiots".
5. If they let their faith be used as a political tool they become useful idiots for one party or another.

   

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