Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen may have been tripping balls when she fervently bowed before a Chinese official last week, after the 76-year-old ate four portions of jian shou qing, a type of wild mushroom with unpredictable psychedelic effects.
According to CNN, citing Chinese state media,Yellen nipped into a casual Beijing restaurant right after landing on July 6, where she apparently exhibited excellent skills with her chopsticks.
Then she did this:
Janet Yellen keeps bowing repeatedly to the Chinese vice premier, who does not reciprocate even once.
— Rising serpent 🇺🇸 (@rising_serpent) July 9, 2023
What an anti-American disgrace this administration is.pic.twitter.com/8vCaIIv6de
"You thought you were walking straight but you just fell sideways," one food expert told the Xinhua state news agency in a report about the mushroom's potent powers, published after Yellen left the country.
"I have a friend who mistakenly ate them and hallucinated for three days," Dr. Peter Mortimer, a professor at Kunming Institute of Botany, told CNN.
Yellen’s stop at an outlet of the Yi Zuo Yi Wang restaurant chain — the name means “In and Out” in English — sparked a flurry of posts on the Chinese social media network Weibo and a deluge of reservations, staffers said.
“It was an extremely magical day,” the restaurant said of the secretary’s visit. -NY Post
About that bow...
"Never, ever, ever - An American official does not bow," said former George W. Bush White House senior staffer Bradley Blakeman in response. "It looks like she’s been summoned to the principal’s office, and that’s exactly the optics the Chinese love."
