Three-word slogans, starting with a verb, are the currency of the populist. “Take back control” and “Build that wall” served the Anglo-American wing of that movement handsomely in 2016. Leaders become verbose in office — courtiers, those patient listeners, encourage bad habits — but one of Donald Trump’s best-performing tweets of late honours the format. “OPEN THE SCHOOLS!!!” howled the US president, to 400,000 retweets in 24 hours.
以动词开头的三个单词的口号是民粹主义的货币。2016年,“夺回控制权”(Take back control)和“建造那堵墙”(Build that wall)的口号,帮了英美民粹主义运动的大忙。就任之后,领导人的话变多了——他们身边的那些亲信,那些耐心的听众,助长了坏习惯——但唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)近来人气最高的Twitter帖子之一重拾这种格式。美国总统高呼“开放学校!”(OPEN THE SCHOOLS!!!)的帖子在24小时内被转发了40万次。