through the prism of
アメリカ大統領選の共和党指名争いで首位のドナルド・トランプ氏の「アメリカ第一」とした外交に関する発言が話題になっています。
In Donald Trump’s Worldview, America Comes First, and Everybody Else Pays
Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner, said that if elected, he might halt purchases of oil from Saudi Arabia and other Arab allies unless they commit ground troops to the fight against the Islamic State or “substantially reimburse” the United States for combating the militant group, which threatens their stability.
中略
In Mr. Trump’s worldview, the United States has become a diluted power, and the main mechanism by which he would re-establish its central role in the world is economic bargaining. He approached almost every current international conflict through the prism of a negotiation, even when he was imprecise about the strategic goals he sought. He again faulted the Obama administration’s handling of the negotiations with Iran last year — “It would have been so much better if they had walked away a few times,” he said — but offered only one new idea about how he would change its content: Ban Iran’s trade with North Korea.
今回取り上げるのは、“through the prism of a negotiation”という表現です。まず“prism”をLDOCEで調べてみると、“a transparent block of glass that breaks up white light into different colours”とあり、理科の光の実験などでもおなじみの道具を指しています。「プリズム」を通して景色などを見ると、実際に見えているものとは異なり、上下逆さまな風景となります。“through the prism of a negotiation”の意味としては「交渉〔駆け引き〕を通して」となりますが、“prism”が用いられていることで「トランプ氏独特のパースペクティブ、偏見（？）を通した見方」というニュアンスが含まれていると考えました。(ninetails)
