U.S. Treasury Secretary’s Wife (Briefly) Sides With Greta Thunberg After His Economics Degree Jab

U.S. Treasury Secretary’s Wife (Briefly) Sides With Greta Thunberg After His Economics Degree Jab

Well, this is awkward . . .

It seems U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s wife isn’t on board with the whole “publically taunting a teen activist” shtick he pulled this week. On Saturday, his wife, Louise Linton, voiced support for climate activist Greta Thunberg in a quickly deleted Instagram post just days after Mnuchin dismissed the 17-year-old as too unqualified to be taken seriously.

Earlier this week, Mnuchin threw some serious shade at Thunberg after her speech at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, during which she didn’t mince words while criticising industry leaders’ inept response to the climate crisis. In an interview with Bloomberg, Mnuchin said that “after she goes and studies economics in college, she can go back and explain that to us.” With ‘that’ presumed to be the routinely documented and already devastating effects of climate change that thousands of economists have already backed.

So it was quite a surprise to then see the following post on Linton’s verified Instagram account Saturday, which seems to call out her husband’s comment specifically:

“I stand with Greta on this issue. (I don’t have a degree in economics either) We need to drastically reduce our use of fossil fuels. Keep up the fight @gretathunberg.”

The post only stayed up for about 30 minutes before being mysteriously deleted. Long enough, though, to raise plenty of eyebrows and questions about what exactly might be going on in the Mnuchin-Linton household at the moment.

It’s also not the first time the official’s wife has gotten into hot water over her online activity. Though I’d argue this Greta shoutout is much better PR than her 2017 stunt, wherein Linton sarcastically mocked a mother on Instagram after the woman dared to comment on her overly luxurious lifestyle. Or the time she self-published an error-ridden account of her year abroad as a self-appointed White Saviour in Zambia. As far as Linton’s track sheet for making headlines goes, this weekend’s post easily wins as least shittiest, even straying into the territory of—dare I say it?—mildly rad.

Both Mnuchin and Linton have remained silent on this weekend’s post so far. Publically, at least. Privately, I’d bet money that they’ve shared several words, many of them four-letters long and not safe for virgin ears.


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