Louise Linton, Wife of Treasury Secretary, Gives New Meaning to Privilege on Instagram

Louise Linton enjoyed her seemingly taxpayer-funded day trip to Kentucky with her husband, treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin, thank you very much!

On Monday, Linton shared a lavish Instagram of her and Mnuchin sauntering of a government plane accompanied by a caption littered with designer plug hashtags. Linton, whose husband is worth a cool $300 million, redefined condescension when she responded to a woman who wryly pointed out that their trip was paid for by the American people.

“Glad we could pay for your little getaway,” Jenni Miller, a woman from Portland, OR, wrote on Linton’s Instagram. Linton apparently disapproved of Miller’s acknowledgement of a mere fact.

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

(Linton and Mnuchin were married in June; he has been accused of exploiting loopholes in the tax code to avoid paying taxes more than once. Ironically, Mnuchin flew to Louisville, KY, to meet with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in a bid to overhaul the tax code.)

“Pretty sure the amount we sacrifice per year is a lot more than you’d be willing to sacrifice if the choice was yours,” Linton added. “You’re adorably out of touch.”

Linton’s comment astounded people on Twitter. After screenshots of her comments racked up thousands of retweets, Linton deleted the photo and set both her Instagram and Twitter to private. A Treasury Department spokesperson told The Washington Post that the couple’s flight was approved by “the appriopaite government channels” and Mnuchin apparently covered the cost of her travel.

It’s worth adding that this is the same woman who wrote a memoir about “abandon[ing] her privileged life in Scotland to travel to Zambia as a gap year student,” except she didn’t really abandon her privilege. Linton was internationally mocked for her “white savior complex” and many of the book’s anecdotes were disputed by Zambians.

Miller told Splinter that Linton had not reached out to her, apologized, or clarified her comment. Somewhat surprisingly, Miller added that she hasn’t been trolled by anyone defending Linton. “Everyone I’ve heard from (at least 100 people) has been very supportive,” Miller said. “People don’t like horrible rich people.”

Indeed, they don’t.

Linton did not immediately respond to a request for comment; this post will be updated if she does.