Scottish actress Louise Linton, wife of U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, lashed out at a critic on Instagram Monday, calling the critic “adorably out of touch” after posting an image in which she tagged various designers she was wearing as she disembarked a government plane.
Linton posted the photo of her and her husband after a brief trip to Kentucky on Monday. The Associated Press reported that Mnuchin visited the state to see the gold bars kept in the U.S. Bullion Depository at Fort Knox.
"Great #daytrip to #Kentucky!" Linton wrote, adding hashtags to compliment the people of Kentucky and the countryside. She also added hashtags to shout out the designers whose clothing she wore, including #hermesscarf, #valentino and #tomford.
"Glad we could pay for your little getaway," Instagram user @jennimiller29 wrote in response to the photo, along with the hashtag #deplorable.
Linton, whose Instagram account was public at the time of the post, shot back at the critic.
“Aww!!! Did you think this was a personal trip?! Adorable!” Linton 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? 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."
She went on to call the critic “adorably out of touch.”
“Thanks for the passive aggressive nasty comment,” Linton wrote. “Your kids look very cute. Your life looks cute.’
The critic, an Oregon mother of three named Jenni Miller, told The New York Times that she was shocked by Linton's response.
"I think my post was just five or six words, and she had to go on basically a rant about it to make herself look more important and look smarter, better, richer — all those things," Miller told the newspaper. "It just seemed wholly inappropriate."
Linton made her Instagram account private shortly after the exchange, though screenshots of the comments went viral on Twitter.
A Treasury Department spokesperson told the AP that Mnuchin and Linton are reimbursing the government for the cost of Linton's travel and added that she was not given compensation for mentioning the high-end designers on Instagram.
About the Author
