Axl Rose is no stranger to ripping apart political figures on Twitter, but this time he actually provoked a response from one of his targets. After the singer called Steve Mnuchin an “asshole”, the Secretary of the Treasury replied by questioning the Guns N’ Roses frontman’s worth to the United States (or Liberia, if you consider his initial response).
Earlier this evening (May 6th), Rose tweeted out, “It’s official! Whatever anyone may have previously thought of Steve Mnuchin he’s officially an asshole.” A short time later, Mnuchin responded to Axl’s tweet, remarking, “What have you done for the country lately?”
Initially, Mnuchin added a Liberian flag to the end of his question, as captured by Associated Press reporter Philip Crowther in the tweet below. Mnuchin then deleted that response, and put up the same reply with an American flag.
Rose has yet to explain why he’s deemed Mnuchin an “asshole”, though we have some theories. Earlier this week, the Treasury Secretary was quoted as stating, “This is a great time for people to explore America,” as he expressed doubt that international travel would resume in 2020 due to the Trump Administration’s mishandling of COVID-19. Another recent headline involved Mnuchin being sued for denying stimulus payments to certain U.S. children because one or both of their parents are immigrants.
A few days ago, Rose called out recent incidents of overcrowding at beaches despite social distancing regulations, tweeting, “If the Sheriffs can choose not to enforce the beach closures can the hospitals “choose” not to admit any possible Covid-19 suspected beach goers? Just askin’…” He also recently blasted Kentucky Senator Rand Paul for an apparent lax attitude toward social distancing, tweeting, “As usual Rand Paul needs to step off.”
Editors’ Picks
Guns N’ Roses took some heat themselves for headlining the Vive Latino Festival on March 14th, after much of the concert industry had shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That turned out to be the band’s only gig thus far in 2020, with the rest of their spring shows postponed. The band is still scheduled to kick off a North American tour in July, but it’s likely those dates will be affected, as well.
In the meantime, GN’R are working on new music, with bassist Duff McKagan’s wife recently saying it’s “killer stuff” and “pretty epic.” It was also just announced that the band has collaborated with best-selling author James Patterson on a new children’s book, Sweet Child O’ Mine, which is due in September.
See all the aforementioned tweets below.
Now deleted and tweeted again, this time with the flag of the United States of America (🇺🇸) rather than Liberia (🇱🇷). pic.twitter.com/Af6wj8W9gF
— Philip Crowther (@PhilipinDC) May 7, 2020
What have you done for the country lately? 🇺🇸
— Steven Mnuchin (@stevenmnuchin1) May 7, 2020
Q: If the Sheriffs can choose not to enforce the beach closures can the hospitals “choose” not to admit any possible Covid-19 suspected beach goers? Just askin’…🤔
— Axl Rose (@axlrose) May 2, 2020
