Louise Linton, Scottish actress and wife of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, is in hot water (and social media privacy mode) after an Instagram post detailing the brands she wore aboard a government plane — and a subsequent comment war with a follower — went viral.
Linton posted a photo to her Instagram account of Mnuchin and her deplaning a government plane from Kentucky, where Mnuchin was reportedly in town to discuss tax reform with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and to visit Fort Knox.
“Great #daytrip to #Kentucky! #nicest #people #beautiful #countryside,” Linton captioned the photo, before listing out hashtags of the brands she was wearing: “#rolandmouret pants, #tomford sunnies, #hermesscarf, #valentinorockstudheels #valentino.” The post was ended with a final hashtag: “#usa.”
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Several of her followers took issue with the post, which rubbed them as out-of-touch bragging about wealth. “Please don’t tag your Hermès scarf. Distasteful,” one user wrote.
Yet it was user Jenni Miller whose comment drew a rebuttal from Linton. “Glad we could pay for your little getaway #deplorable.” Miller wrote, to which Linton shot back.
“Aw!!! Did you think this was a personal trip?! Adorable!” Linton wrote to Miller in a comment on her photo. “Do you think the U.S. gov’t 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. Pretty sure the amount we sacrifice per year is a lot more than you’d be willing to sacrifice if the choice was yours. You’re adorably out of touch. Thanks for the passive aggressive nasty comment.”
Linton reportedly began by removing the brand hashtags, before deleting the post altogether and making her account, which has roughly 8,000 followers, private.
Linton is no stranger to public relations issues; in 2016, before she was married to Mnuchin, a book she self-published about her experiences working in Zambia, “In Congo’s Shadow,” was pulled after it drew sharp criticism for the white-savior narrative in her writing.
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