Not-so-breaking news: Donald Trump is a polarizing figure. Almost as polarizing: the often sketchy, deeply corporately-connected cronies and and finance guys he appointed to his presidential cabinet. Chief among those suit-clad minions is Steven Mnuchin, a Goldman Sachs bigwig and hedge fund manager turned Secretary of the Treasury.
As a rich guy, he’s been a huge advocate for the kind of tax reform that the GOP-controlled Congress just passed, and he was also in the news earlier this year for using private, taxpayer-funded planes for his personal travel needs. Steven Mnuchin is, as you’ve probably guessed, not very popular among progressives or woke folk.
Just before Christmas, somebody representing the 99 percent sent Mnuchin a very special Christmas gift. Police officers and a bomb squad descended on Mnuchin’s home in Bel Air when the Treasury Secretary received a “suspicious package.”
Aerial footage from @NBCLA's NewsChopper 4 shows officers investigating a large box wrapped in wrapping paper; it's not clear what is inside the box addressed to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. https://t.co/w0QsUKuIHI pic.twitter.com/2j0VmdtHFG
— Whitney Ashton (@whit_ashton) December 24, 2017
So, what’s in the box? Not a fruitcake…and not a bomb. It was a big box of horse poop. Oh, and there was a note.
https://twitter.com/RobertStrong13/status/944960146131763200
It read:
Mrs. [sic] Mnuchin & Trumo,
We’re returning the “gift” of the Christmas tax bill. It’s bulls**t.
Warmest Wishes,
The American People.
P.S. Kiss Donald for me.
To use horse parlance, whoa! Let’s recap. Somebody sent horse manure to a high-ranking government official as an on-the-nose protest of the tax reform bill, along with a nasty note, and he took credit for it on Twitter. The Christmas gift came from “The American People” on behalf of Robert Strong, a psychologist with the Los Angeles Department of Mental Health and an organizer of Occupy L.A. He got the manure from a friend who owns horses, put the manure in a box, figured out where Mnuchin lived, and sent it on its way.
Strong told NPR station KPCC that he did what he did because it’s Christmas. “What I did, I would like to compare to what Jesus did when he went into the temple and overturned the tables of the moneychangers, who were exploiting the people financially in the name of religion,” strong told NPR station KPCC. “I feel like that’s what the GOP has done to the American people.”
https://twitter.com/RobertStrong13/status/944961557162635264
And what do the American people have to say about Strong’s act, which is certainly going to earn him a meeting with the Secret Service?
I hereby citizen pardon you for any and all future incidents. Sending major Kudos your way. Bravo my my good man.
— _Black None More (@bexier) December 25, 2017
https://twitter.com/ThisJustInLIVE/status/945151121886085120
https://twitter.com/mckee_heathir/status/945415674268041216
Thank you!! Your "gift" was perfect and I hope they re-delivered it after they determined it was harmless. Well done!
— Donna D'Amore (@ohdonnad14) December 25, 2017
https://twitter.com/StevesOfAmerica/status/945292400552968192
https://twitter.com/StayWoke_____/status/945500661323460608
You, Sir are a True Patriot 🇺🇸. Thank you !
— GuavaJelly (@GuavaJellyNews) December 25, 2017
https://twitter.com/Miduswell/status/945296577274445825
Thank you for your service
— IAmNotGroot (@GemSaadi) December 25, 2017