Louise Linton Faces Backlash After Instagram Rant
Louise Linton, the new bride of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, is facing serious backlash after she couldn't help but attack a random woman who commented on her Instagram.
On Monday, Linton, a Scottish-born actress, posted a glam Instagram of herself and Mnuchin disembarking a government jet after accompanying him on a trip to meet with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“Great #daytrip to #Kentucky!” she wrote. After hashtagging some generic words (#nicest #people), she added the designer labels she was rocking: #rolandmouret, #hermesscarf, #tomford, and #valentino.
Jenni Miller, a mother of three in Oregon, commented on the post, which at the time was public. “Glad we could pay for your little getaway. #deplorable."
Naturally, Linton - taking a cue from President Donald Trump's social media impulses - felt called to respond.
“Aw!!! Did you think this was a personal trip?! Adorable!” she wrote. “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?”
Did she stop there? No! “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.” Here, she threw in a curled bicep and kiss emoji.
“You’re adorably out of touch,” she went on, adding the most savage of popular girl jibes: “Your life looks cute." Damn, Louise!
She ended her salvo with this burn: “Go chill out and watch the new game of thrones. It’s fab!”
After the post and her petty response went viral, Linton made her profile private and deleted the post. But thankfully, it lives on:
This isn't the first time Linton's #privileged #lifestyle has been in the spotlight. Last year, a book she wrote about the few months she spent in Zambia was roundly trashed as racist. In it, she perpetuates a misleading white savior narrative, and actually refers to herself as a "skinny white muzungu with long angel hair." She later pulled the book from Amazon and issued an apology.
Reached by the New York Times, the target of Linton's insults seemed just as confused as everyone else by the outburst.
“It seems like she’s been in public life for a long time,” Miller said. “It just seemed wholly inappropriate.”
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