"Mnuchin doesn't believe the federal government should pay for Meal on Wheels. . .

[CousinIT]

. . . but he does think taxpayers should pony up for his honeymoon." -Robert Reich

Highflying Mnuchins Take the Country for a Ride

Public servants are supposed to serve the public, not themselves. What part of that equation does Steven Mnuchin not understand?

The Trump administration’s Treasury secretary is in hot water again. On Wednesday, ABC News reported that the Treasury Department’s inspector general’s office was looking at his request that a government jet fly him and his new wife on their European honeymoon. The jet costs taxpayers roughly $25,000 an hour to operate. Mr. Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs banker, is worth more than $300 million.

A Treasury spokesman said Mr. Mnuchin made the request, later withdrawn, because he needed the jet’s “secure communications.” Since Mr. Mnuchin is fifth in line of succession should anything happen to the president, this excuse was at least a tad more credible than the one offered for a ride he took with his wife, Louise Linton, last month that is also under official review. That trip was to Kentucky, where the couple could view the solar eclipse in the path of totality. The justification then was that Mr. Mnuchin wanted to speak with Kentuckians about tax reform and he needed to check on the gold at Fort Knox, which is presumably as safe and sound after Mr. Mnuchin’s inspection as it was when he got there.

Taxpayers, who are being reimbursed for Ms. Linton’s travel, may never have known about that junket had she not decided to use a photo of herself alighting from the plane to show off her Hermes, Valentino and Tom Ford ensemble on Instagram. She then savaged a woman from Oregon who dared call the move “#deplorable.” As the clothes designers began distancing themselves, Ms. Linton apologized to America — in an interview with a Washington society magazine that ran a photo of her, in a ball gown, on the cover.

Mr. Mnuchin comes from a world where rich people get free stuff all the time. Now he is in a different world, one where taxpayers are on the hook. “We’re starting to see a pattern with Steve Mnuchin,” says Walter Shaub, former chief of the Office of Government Ethics, now at the Campaign Legal Center. “This is the tone from the top, that President Trump himself has set: Ethics doesn’t matter, and high positions of public trust come with perks.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/14/opinion/mnuchin-funds-honeymoon.html

[gratuitous]

1. Where's your sense of romance?

How else is Stevie going to prove to Wife #3 that she is every bit as special to him as Wife #1 and Wife #2 once were? If you can't take your best girl to Europe on a government plane, what good is it being the Treasury Secretary? All you old fogey libruls have simply forgotten what it's like to show a woman a good time and how much you appreciate her.

Goodness knows that Mnuchin's Wife #4 is going to walk the aisle after Steve gets out of prison, and there's not much chance of her getting the gussied-up treatment.

[mopinko]

2. i hope they checked his pockets

on the way out of ft knox.

[Grammy23]

3. And her designer handbag.

I wonder how many gold bars she could stuff in that purse?? Enough to finance their jaunt to Europe for their honeymoon, I will bet!

The sheer gall of these people is staggering.

[meow2u3]

4. But Moochin' Mnuchin has no trouble with expecting taxpayers to pay for his trips

How out of touch is this guy? He's worth millions, but he's willing to steal the food from the mouths of seniors, expecting the poor to pay for his lavish lifestyle?!

[left-of-center2012]

5. Don't see "Meals on Wheels" in linked article?

Why is it your 'title'?

Fake news?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

6. But he is a strong proponent of Honeymoons on Government Jets.

So there.