Another day, another attempt by conservatives to direct attention away from Donald Trump repeatedly getting indicted across this great nation. This time, they’re trying to make a thing out of Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen eating hallucinogenic mushrooms while on a trip to China! Do you remember when the former Secretary of Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, posed like a Bond villain with printed money with his wife, and also picked a fight with Greta Thunberg? I do! Bringing it up for no reason in particular, just wondering if it was part of his job description. Anyway, on to the magic mushrooms, which honestly sound delicious. Per CNN:
CNN’s Erin Burnett spoke to her Monday, asking about the “mushroom experience” that set off a social media frenzy and dramatically boosted business for a Yunnan restaurant chain, where Yellen ate the local jian shou qing.
“There was a delicious mushroom dish. I was not aware that these mushrooms had hallucinogenic properties. I learned that later,” Yellen said about the group dinner that clarified that she didn’t organize nor did she do the ordering.
She didn’t have any strange visions, the “Erin Burnett OutFront” anchor joked. Yellen then said that she had “read that if the mushrooms are cooked properly, which I’m sure they were at this very good restaurant, that they have no impact.”
So, as someone who loves mushrooms, you had at me at hello. This story is a nothing burger, however, the republican party is falling apart at the seams, so naturally Fox News wants to turn this into something. Just look at the headline they have over at their site: “Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen admits to eating ‘hallucinogenic’ mushrooms during China visit: ‘Delicious.'”
Just look at this segment that aired on August 15:
If you don’t want to watch more than two minutes of a knucklehead grasping at straws, I don’t blame you. I’m not entirely sure how Fox News managed to eke out that amount of air time over what someone else ate while on a work trip. Well, I do, actually, because I wasted the two minutes of my life watching, and it’s just nonsensical insults about Yellen’s haircut, and shouting into the void about nothing.
The host, who I think is Greg Gutfeld (honestly, all Fox News hosts look the same to me), starts yelling about how every politician needs to do shrooms. Then, Jeanine Piro, who is also a host on the show, chimes in that Yellen got drugged by the Chinese government—the same Piro who, if you don’t watch Fox News, you’re probably only familiar with how Saturday Night Live portrays her as being constantly wasted, which also tracks with what the video shows. That’s a bridge too far for everyone else, who then walk Pirro back from that claim.
The segment ends with another host? (Pundit? Ghoul?) declaring that Yellen only shared the anecdote to seem “cool” because apparently the Biden administration as a whole is desperate to look cool (according to them). Can anyone make that make sense?!
Keep in mind that this segment aired the day after Donald Trump was indicted for a fourth time, with 18 other people, yet mocking a woman’s haircut is the top priority for these smooth-brained monsters.
Traveling to someplace outside of your bubble is one of life’s great pleasures, as is trying regional delicacies when you’re traveling. Leave it to Fox News to try to drum up outrage over Yellen’s innocuous comments and somehow be misogynistic while doing it. Still won’t detract from the fact Trump has 91 charges currently pending against him!
(featured image: Pedro Pardo – Pool/Getty Images)
