It honestly reads like a Mad Lib.
Axl Rose (musician) started a Twitter beef (internet slang) with Steve Mnuchin (politician) in the middle of a pandemic (kind of disaster). The Guns N’ Roses frontman started the unexpected feud with what appears to be a tweet inspired by an interview the Treasury Secretary gave on Fox Business.
“This is a great time for people to explore America,” Mnuchin said, contra the opinion of every sane public health official on the planet. “A lot of people haven’t seen many parts of America. I wish I could get back on the road soon.”
Mnuchin’s boss is freaking out about the damage COVID-19 has done to the economy because he sees it as a threat to his reelection. The GOP is more than willing to reopen the economy in an effort to keep him in power and protect their interests, even if it means that thousands will die. Democrats have not done a good job of making this argument; Axl Rose did.
It’s official! Whatever anyone may have previously thought of Steve Mnuchin he’s officially an asshole.
— Axl Rose (@axlrose) May 6, 2020
Incredibly, Mnuchin replied. Predictably, he made a dumb error.
What have you done for the country lately? 🇺🇸
— Steven Mnuchin (@stevenmnuchin1) May 7, 2020
That’s the flag of Liberia, not the United States, which should earn one of the nationalist president’s henchmen online mockery. However, Axl didn’t limit his response to Mnuchin’s vexillological error.
My bad I didn’t get we’re hoping 2 emulate Liberia’s economic model but on the real unlike this admin I’m not responsible for 70k+ deaths n’ unlike u I don’t hold a fed gov position of responsibility 2 the American people n’ go on TV tellin them 2 travel the US during a pandemic.
— Axl Rose (@axlrose) May 7, 2020
On the merits, Axl is right. He also gets bonus points for staying on brand by using “n'” instead of “and.” In the face of this demolition, Mnuchin hasn’t replied in the 12 hours since Axl’s response. Score one for rock ‘n roll.