One lawmaker is the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, the third most powerful person in American politics. The other lawmaker is a brand-new member of Congress, who ran for public office for the first time last year.
一位是美国众议院议长，也就是美国第三号领导人，另一位是初出茅庐的新科众议员，去年首次竞选公职的晚辈。
But in terms of social media influence, New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has the clear lead, passing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in number of Twitter followers this past week.
但是，谈到社交媒体的影响力，来自纽约州的民主党众议员亚历山德里亚·奥卡西奥-科蒂斯明显领先，她过去一周来的推特粉丝超过了议长南希·佩洛西。
The 116th Congress is the most diverse in U.S. history and also one of the youngest. Twenty-five members of the new Congress are millennials, part of the generation born in the 1980s and later who are more comfortable with social media.
第116届国会是美国历史上最多元也最年轻的国会。新国会有25名议员是千禧世代，他们属于80后出生的一代，对社交媒体的运用更为得心应手。
Ocasio-Cortez leads this pack of newcomers, drawing national headlines by politically sparring with critics, livestreaming her home cooking, and talking about her plans for a “Green New Deal.” The videos she posts give voters a glimpse of her personal life while providing behind-the-scenes primers on life as a freshman lawmaker.
国会新秀中的翘楚当属奥卡西奥-科蒂斯。她与批评者在政治上互掐，直播在家做饭，并谈论她的“绿色新政”计划，吸引了全国媒体的瞩目。她登出的视频让选民管窥她的个人生活，同时还让人们对一位新科立法人员的幕后生活略知一二。
“Ocasio-Cortez stands out among everyone else. What she’s doing is really quite groundbreaking in a way that we’re quickly seeing others try to imitate,” said Dave Karpf, associate professor of media and public affairs at The George Washington University.
乔治华盛顿大学媒体和公共事务副教授戴夫·卡尔夫说：“奥卡西奥-科蒂斯鹤立鸡群。在某一方面，她所作的真的具有开拓性，我们看到别人在很快地模仿。”
“There’s an authenticity that she brings to that, that comes from starting out as an Instagram user and then developing this audience and using the communication tools she has to communicate with them. Rather than the other way around,” Karpf said.
卡尔夫说：“她带来了一种真实状态，一开始她是Instagram的使用者，然后培养出了这批观众，利用她拥有的交流工具跟他们交流，而不是反过来。”
The 29-year-old Ocasio-Cortez used Instagram Live to take her followers through the post-election process of preparing to serve in Congress, demystifying an often obscure process so that voters could better understand what’s asked of elected officials.
29岁的奥卡西奥-科蒂斯利用Instagram Live带着粉丝走过她胜选后为担任国会议员做准备的经历，揭开了鲜为人知的这道程序的神秘面纱，好让选民明白民选官员需要做的事情。
“The way new members of Congress — particularly the younger, new Democratic women in Congress — are using social media is emblematic of their new approach to leadership,” said Molly O’Rourke, executive in residence at the American University School of Communication. “They have a distinct policy agenda and they have a kind of outsider appeal. So they’re not going to play the game of communication by the same set of rules.”
美利坚大学传播学院驻院高管莫莉·奥鲁克说：“国会新成员、特别是比较年轻的民主党女性新议员使用社交媒体的方式反映了她们看待领导力的新方式。他们有与众不同的施政议程，有某种局外人的吸引力。所以，他们不会遵守同一套的传播游戏规则。”
Ocasio-Cortez also used social media to make light of the anonymous release of a video of her dancing while she was in college. Detractors online said the video showed she was not serious. She responded by dancing in front of her new congressional office, writing “having fun shouldn’t be disqualifying or illegal.”
有人匿名披露了奥卡西奥-科蒂斯大学期间跳舞的视频后，她也利用社交媒体对此加以调侃。网上黑她的人说，视频显示她为人不够严肃。她的回应方式是在自己的国会新办公室前跳舞，并写道：“开心不应当使人失去资格，也不违法。”
O’Rourke said that video response “reinforces her authenticity and her credibility as a messenger who has unique appeal to a certain set of people, especially [young] voters and voters of color who are really ready to see those barriers torn down.”
奥鲁克说，她对跳舞视频的回应“加强了她作为一名讯息传达者的真实性和可信性，她对某特定人群具有吸引力，特别是准备好要看到那些障碍被打破的选民、少数族裔选民。”
But Democrats are not the only lawmakers who are savvy at social media. President Trump’s use of Twitter has revolutionized the platform as a space for real-time policy debates, convincing Republicans lawmakers of the power of getting their message out in new ways.
不过，对社交媒体使用娴熟的议员不仅仅是民主党人。特朗普总统在推特大显身手，把这个平台革命化了，使其成为就政策问题展开实时辩论的空间。这让共和党议员们确信，一定要掌握新的方式来传达他们的讯息。
Freshman Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Republican from Texas, has a lively Twitter feed where he recently featured one of his hobbies: ax-throwing. Crenshaw a former Navy SEAL who lost an eye fighting in Afghanistan also used social media platforms to call out comedy show “Saturday Night Live” for mocking his combat injury and to push back on a House Democrat’s criticism of President Trump.
来自德克萨斯州的新科共和党众议员丹·克伦肖有推特直播。他最近展示他的业余爱好之一：飞斧。曾经是海军海豹突击队员的克伦肖在阿富汗作战时失去了一只眼睛。他还利用社交媒体平台敲打喜剧表演节目周六夜现场(SNL)嘲讽他的战伤，并顶回一名民主党众议员对特朗普总统的批评。
But in terms of power on Twitter, the president cannot be replicated.
但是，在推特威力方面，谁也无法复制特朗普总统。
“I don’t think many people are ready to replicate it because it’s so unique to him,” O’Rourke says of Trump’s Twitter feed. “I think other Republicans and some Democrats are in awe that it’s had some success for him but I don’t think anyone is particularly ready to model it because it’s a very distinctive brand for him.”
奥鲁克评论特朗普的推特说：“我不认为很多人能够立刻复制，因为这是他所独有的。我认为，其他共和党人和一些民主党人对他取得的某些成功感到敬畏，但我不认为有任何人做好了模仿他的准备，因为这是他非常独特的品牌。”
Traditionally, communications and media are one of the two avenues for lawmakers to build political power.
传统上，传媒是议员们打造政治实力的两大途径之一。
“We’ve always had politicians who are very good at the legislative maneuvering and also politicians who are very good at setting the agenda through playing to the media,” Karpf said. He pointed out that new members of Congress such as Ocasio-Cortez don’t have the structural power to marshal votes or lead committees, two forms of power that help shape a party’s political agenda.
卡尔夫说：“我们总是既有那些非常善于立法操作的政治人物，又有那些非常善于通过取悦媒体来制定议事日程的政治人物。”他指出，奥卡西奥-科蒂斯这样的新秀议员没有权力架构，无法召集大批议员投票，也无法担任委员会领导职务，而这是帮助影响本党政治议事日程的两大权力形式。
“There are types of power that Nancy Pelosi has that aren’t measured by Twitter, nor should they be,” Karpf said.
卡尔夫说：“南希·佩洛西所拥有的那种实力是无法用推特来衡量的，也不应用推特来衡量。”
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters Tuesday “the fact that a lot of people are following both Speaker Pelosi and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is a good thing, and I would hope people would continue to keep listening to their thoughts.”
众议院多数党领袖斯特尼·霍耶星期二对记者们说，“有很多人追随佩洛西议长和奥卡西奥-科蒂斯女士，这是件好事，我希望人们会继续听取她们的想法。”
It’s clear from the Twitter conversation sparked by Ocasio-Cortez’ call for a 70 percent tax rate that media visibility has its benefits.
奥卡西奥-科蒂斯主张对富人征收70%的税，在推特上激起了热议，由此可以看出，媒体曝光确实有益处。
O’Rourke said it may be too early in this new Congress to see if Ocasio-Cortez’ social media clout can be translated into power to set the agenda.
奥鲁克说，奥卡西奥-科蒂斯在社交媒体呼风唤雨的能力能不能转化成为在新一届国会制定议事日程的实力，现在就下判断还为时过早。
Ultimately, social media could have the most influence by shortening the distance between elected officials and voters bringing everyone closer to the political process.
最终，社交媒体所拥有的最大影响力可能是缩短民选官员和选民之间的距离，让每个人都更加走近政治进程。
“I’m hopeful,” said O’Rourke, “given our record levels of cynicism and feelings about elected leaders that that can start to break down barriers.”
奥鲁克说：“我抱有希望。考虑到我们的愤世嫉俗和对民选领袖的感觉目前都处在创纪录的程度，这有可能开始打破障碍。”