August 22, 2017

Here’s What Happened When Steve Mnuchin’s Wife Mocked a Woman for Having Less Money

#HermesScarf reached new levels of tone-deaf with this belittling rant.

Kevin Dietsch/ZUMA

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Louise Linton, the wife of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, was forced to make her social-media presence private after sparking outrage with an Instagram post that flamboyantly bragged about a slew of designer labels she was wearing while disembarking an official Air Force jet.

The caption on the now-deleted photo read: “Great #daytrip to #Kentucky! #nicest #people #beautiful #countryside #rolandmouret pants #tomford sunnies, #hermesscarf #valentinorockstudheels #valentino #usa” 

As if that wasn’t enough, Linton managed to make matters worse for herself by mocking one of her critics for having less money than she does. 

“Glad we could pay for your little getaway. #deplorable” Jenni Miller, a mother of three living in Portland, had commented on the photo.

https://twitter.com/margarita/status/899806489686179840

Linton swiftly lashed out at Miller with the following rant on the post, which has since gone viral:

Aw!!! Did you think this was a personal trip?! Adorable! Do you think the US govt paid for our honeymoon or personal travel?! Lololol. Have you given more to the economy than me and my husband? Either as an individual earner in taxes OR in self sacrifice to your country? I’m pretty sure we paid more sacrifices toward our day “trip” than you did.

Linton’s harsh response immediately reminded the internet of the actress’s self-published memoir last year that detailed her time living in Zambia during her gap year in the 1990s. That book, titled In Congo’s Shadow, was roundly ridiculed for what many described as screaming white privilege and general bad writing. 

Even “alt-right” conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich joined the outrage today to call Linton “basic.”

https://twitter.com/Cernovich/status/899828247743025152

Linton and Mnuchin were married in Washington, DC, this past June. Vice President Mike Pence officiated the extravagant ceremony.

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We have a considerable $390,000 gap in our online fundraising budget that we have to close by June 30. There is no wiggle room, we've already cut everything we can, and we urgently need more readers to pitch in—especially from this specific blurb you're reading right now.

We'll also be quite transparent and level-headed with you about this.

In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

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