Mnuchin Cash

Submission 5,185

About

Mnuchin Cash refers to jokes made about Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and his wife Louise Linton holding freshly printed $1 bills bearing Mnuchin's signature. The photos were mocked online as people felt the photo made the couple look like the personification of greed and excessive wealth.

Origin

On November 15th, 2017, Twitter user and Yahoo Finance journalist Michael B. Kelley^[1] tweeted images taken by AP photojournalist Jacquelyn Martin of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and his wife Louise Linton holding the first printed dollar bills bearing his and U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza's signatures. The tweet gained over 370 retweets and 1,100 likes (photos shown below).

Spread

The photos were immediately mocked, as many Twitter users felt the photo depicted the couple as excessively wealthy. @nycsouthpaw^[2] implied as much in a tweet that said "you can't parody these folks" in a tweet that gained 3,400 retweets and 10,000 likes (shown below, left) Comedian Andy Richter^[3] tweeted a picture with the caption, "Picking out wallpaper for the cognac-swirling room," gaining over 3,100 retweets and 14,000 likes (shown below, right).

Twitter users were also reminded of a controversy involving Linton several months prior when Linton appeared to mock a woman for being poor on her Instagram account. In a post there, Linton bragged about a lavish trip she had taken with Mnuchin and mentioned all the expensive brands she was wearing. Some voiced their offense at the display of wealth in the post, to which Linton responded:

Aw!!! Did you think this was a personal trip?! Adorable! 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 sacrifices toward our day “trip” than you did.^[4]

Several jokes about the photos recalled that controversy. Twitter user Jesse Berney sarcastically praised Linton for continuing to dress like a "Disney villain" after the controversy, gaining over 2,000 retweets and 8,900 likes (shown below, left). Twitter user @DustinGiebel joked that Linton resembled Star Wars villain Kylo Ren, gaining 1,100 retweets and 4,200 likes (shown below, right).

The jokes were covered by several internet culture sites, including Daily Dot,^[5] Select All,^[6] Twitter Moments,^[7] and more.