When Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and his wife Louise Linton posed for a Associated Press photographer holding a sheet of freshly printed dollar bills, it was literally the money shot. Photos of the villainous couple were instantly memed and accurately described as such, but Mnuchin isn’t at all concerned. In fact he quite likes being described as a James Bond villain.
“I guess I should take that as a compliment that I look like a villain in a great, successful James Bond movie,” Mnuchin said on Fox News Sunday. “But, let me just say, I was very excited of having my signature on the money.”
No one appeared more excited by a crisp sheet of dollar bills than Linton, however, who might be better cast as the Bond villain in this photo. Mnuchin, however pleased he is with his comparison to a Bond villain, looks more like Linton’s target.
The best part of their little photoshoot? Mnuchin apparently had no idea that the photos would be publicized, despite the presence of an AP photographer and several video crews. “I didn’t realize that the pictures were public and going on the internet and viral,” Mnuchin said. “But people have the right to do that. People can express what they want.”
While speaking to CNN’s Brian Stetler on Sunday, the photographer, Jacquelyn Martin, said she had no idea how Mnuchin could have thought the photos weren’t going to be publicized. “Certainly the photos are released on the AP wire which goes to the entire world,” Martin said. “So, I’m not really sure how they didn’t think that. There was another still photographer and several video crews as well. I think it was pretty obvious it was a media photo op.”
Hm. A real Bond villain would know better than to pose in front of a photographer and not expect the photographs to be published. A Bond villain would also know better than to leave a paper trail about their possibly state-funded vacations. Mnuchin isn’t a Bond villain, he wishes he was a Bond villain.