Former Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke unveiled his official portrait and, true to form, it seemed oddly focused on one of his most controversial acts while in office.
Defense contractor lobbyist says he enjoyed catching up with former Interior Secretary Zinke and his wife "at the u… https://t.co/7UqdZnhrrD— Corbin Hiar (@Corbin Hiar) 1607478232.0
Though the artist appeared to paint Zinke's hat on backwards (something Zinke did in real life), that was not the most outrageous part of the picture.
Definitely the north end of a southbound hat. https://t.co/PS7BRUJpHa— Aaron Weiss (@Aaron Weiss) 1607489797.0
Trump really knows how to pick 'em... Ryan Zinke unveils an official portrait featuring the national monument he s… https://t.co/4ygaKQBCvO— Oma (@Oma) 1607553838.0
The portrait showed Zinke riding a horse through Bears Ears National Monument, an Obama-era national monument in Utah that many Native American tribes hold sacred.
Zinke toured the monument in May 2017 alongside a group of its critics who pitched him on dismantling protections for the sacred site.
shrinking a national monument that tribes hold sacred and turning the land over to oil, gas, and mining. Zinke’s po… https://t.co/ETO5CdfOFX— Oma (@Oma) 1607554014.0
Zinke later gave the Bear Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition (a partnership of five tribes that petitioned for the monument's designation) a one-hour meeting.
By December of that year, he watched over Trump’s shoulder as the president signed an order shrinking Bears Ears fr… https://t.co/OEQNDMZRaG— Oma (@Oma) 1607554119.0
and 99% of the public who commented on the issue." ~Earther https://t.co/e4TGyuDH52— Oma (@Oma) 1607554545.0
Shortly thereafter, according to Huffpost:
"Trump shrunk the 1.35 million-acre Bears Ears boundary by 85% and the nearby 1.87 million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument roughly in half, opening the door for oil, gas and other development across large areas of previously protected lands."
Very on-brand for the corrupt Trump administration and @RyanZinke to commemorate the largest illegal revocation of… https://t.co/8f5GPu57cg— Western Values Project (@Western Values Project) 1607528104.0
Apologies to horse girls but Ryan Zinke is one of you now https://t.co/Bd6yG9Uubp— Brian Kahn (@Brian Kahn) 1607539528.0
Before being forced to resign in 2018 due to a laundry list of ethics scandals, Zinke became well known for dismantling Bears Ears, the first national monument designated at the request of Native American tribes to honor their heritage.
The artist said the piece, which shows Zinke riding a horse in Bears Ears, incls “a nod to [Zinke’s] respect of the… https://t.co/QdSlrUokqy— Chris D'Angelo 🌎 (@Chris D'Angelo 🌎) 1607635077.0
The artist said he hoped the portrait “will be well received by all.” Not surprisingly, it was not. https://t.co/fkS19nmWq8— Chris D'Angelo 🌎 (@Chris D'Angelo 🌎) 1607691303.0
The artist who painted Zinke's portrait said that he included the band around the former Secretary's hat as "a nod to [Zinke's] respect of the native Americans tribes."
That respect seemed somewhat undercut, however, by the portraits much more noticeable setting.
Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will now be immortalized on the horse he rode in on. https://t.co/Ry4QbBWclI— 𝚁𝚎𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚌𝚊 𝙱𝚎𝚒𝚝𝚜𝚌𝚑 (@𝚁𝚎𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚌𝚊 𝙱𝚎𝚒𝚝𝚜𝚌𝚑) 1607531815.0
@hswift Ladies and gentlemen, the 52nd Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke (who was forced to resign in disgrace). https://t.co/GBC5HYfiNk— Matthew Koehler (@Matthew Koehler) 1607545367.0
None of this, of course, even begins to touch upon Zinke's "unofficial" portrait, which features the former Secretary in a fiery battle with several snakes, wielding an axe in a pretty obvious ripoff of Frank Frazetta's "Death Dealer VI."
The legend of action hero/Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke exists only in his narcissistic mind and, unfortunately, in this… https://t.co/Z9Lr7Vmp2C— Rep. Jared Huffman (@Rep. Jared Huffman) 1607567787.0
Zinke's portrait will ensure that people remember him for his most unpopular, divisive action.