.JPG)
UPDATE IV: "The embarrassments of the Mnuchins are of the sort everyone can get: A former movie and hedge fund mogul said to be worth $300 million, responsible for the safekeeping of the taxpayer’s dollar, tries to procure a taxpayer-funded jet on a honeymoon with his expensively wardrobed, bejeweled former actress wife. . .
Mnuchin is indeed a man of great fortune. But he has the misfortune, under the circumstances, of having a name that rhymes, or rhymes close enough, with 'mooching.'
This was not lost on Twitter Wednesday night
Behold: 'The moochin’ Mnuchins.'"
Read the Washington Post, ‘The moochin’ Mnuchins’: Treasury secretary again is fodder for rich humor.
UPDATE III: "Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin requested a military jet to fly him and his wife, Louise Linton, to their European honeymoon this summer, raising questions again about the wealthy couple's use of government aircraft. . .
An Air Force spokesman told ABC News, which first reported the story, that the jet would cost $25,000 an hour to operate, though it is unclear if that included costs like maintenance and fuel. . .
Last month, Mnuchin and Linton took a government aircraft to Kentucky on a trip that involved viewing the solar eclipse, drawing wide condemnation and accusations that the former Goldman Sachs banker and Hollywood producer was using public funds for potentially voluntary travel as Trump seeks to rein in government waste.
The Kentucky trip ended within miles of the path of totality, the narrow band across the United States where the moon totally blotted out the sun during the solar eclipse. Mnuchin viewed it from one of the most restricted sites in the world: Fort Knox. . .
Linton, an actress, drew intense scrutiny after she posted an Instagram glamour shot of herself deplaning and tagged a host of high-end designers such as Hermes and Valentino in the photo, then called a critic who was offended at the idea of publicly funded travel 'adorably out of touch.'"
Read the Washington Post, Mnuchin eclipses earlier backlash with pricey request: European honeymoon by military jet.
UPDATE II: "In a single Instagram post, Linton managed to tap into elitism, narcissism, self-righteousness, incivility, apathy and blonde privilege — all wrapped up in a designer package. Linton was so pleased with how chic she looked deplaning that she wanted to share that image on social media. The whole running-the-country thing was straight out of central casting. The couple looked the part. But even the best actors will tell you that beautiful costumes can’t compensate for a lousy narrative."
Read the Washington Post, Louise Linton just spelled out her value system for you common folk.
UPDATE: "Before Louise Linton’s bizarre Instagram exchange Monday and before her lavish June wedding to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the wealthy Scottish actress wrote a memoir about her gap year in Zambia in the late 1990s.
The book, self-published last year, was condemned by the Zambian government, scorched by critics as a 'white savior' fantasy and ultimately removed from sales, according to the Telegraph and the Scotsman. . .
The memoir, it turns out, was also littered with inaccuracies, as Zambians pointed out on social media.
The Zambian High Commission in London denounced Linton and her 'falsified' memoir for depicting the country as 'savage.' It accused Linton of 'tarnishing the image of a very friendly and peaceful country.'"
Read the Washington Post, Treasury secretary’s wife stirred controversy before, with memoir of her ‘living nightmare’ in Africa.
"'Let them eat cake' is the traditional translation of the French phrase 'Qu'ils mangent de la brioche', supposedly spoken by 'a great princess' upon learning that the peasants had no bread. Since brioche was a luxury bread enriched with butter and eggs, the quote would reflect the princess's disregard for the peasants, or her poor understanding of their situation. . .
The quotation, as attributed to Marie Antoinette, was claimed to have been uttered during one of the famines that occurred in France during the reign of her husband, Louis XVI. Upon being alerted that the people were suffering due to widespread bread shortages, the Queen is said to have replied, 'Then let them eat brioche.' Although this anecdote was never cited by opponents of the monarchy at the time of the French Revolution, it did acquire great symbolic importance in subsequent histories when pro-revolutionary historians sought to demonstrate the obliviousness and selfishness of the French upper classes at that time."
Today, our "elites" have social media where they can boast of their wealth, and mock the common people.
And so it was that "U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s wife, Louise Linton, boasted of flying on a government plane with her husband to Kentucky on Monday and then named the numerous fashion brands she wore on the trip in an unusual social media post that only became more bizarre minutes later. . .
When someone posted a comment on Linton's Instagram picture that criticized the way Linton touted the trip, the treasury secretary's wife swung back hard, mentioning the extreme wealth she and her husband control.
'Did you think this was a personal trip?!' Linton wrote on her Instagram page, responding to the person who had written 'glad we could pay for your little getaway.' . .
Linton continued in her response to the critic: '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 taxes toward our day ‘trip’ than you did. Pretty sure the amount we sacrifice per year is a lot more than you’d be willing to sacrifice if the choice was yours.'"
Read the Washington Post, Treasury secretary’s wife boasts of travel on government plane, touts Hermes and Valentino fashion.
No comments:
Post a Comment