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.
以動詞開頭的三個單詞的口號是民粹主義的貨幣。2016年,「奪回控制權」(Take back control)和「建造那堵牆」(Build that wall)的口號,幫了英美民粹主義運動的大忙。就任之後,領導人的話變多了——他們身邊的那些親信,那些耐心的聽衆,助長了壞習慣——但唐納•川普(Donald Trump)近來人氣最高的Twitter貼文之一重拾這種格式。美國總統高呼「開放學校!」(OPEN THE SCHOOLS!!!)的貼文在24小時內被轉發了40萬次。