Another of Trump’s “Finest People” Bites the Dust in Scandal
Trump tweeted this morning that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is out. This is the…I’ve lost count now…umpteenth one of Trump’s cronies out on the street and under DOJ investigation. Zinke has been rushing to burn down the Interior Department ever since he infested the office in early 2017. Recall that Zinke is the one who approved a tiny two man electrical contractor from Montana to rebuild the entire Puerto Rican electrical grid that was destroyed during Hurricane Maria. The company, Whitefish Energy, once employed Zinke’s son. That contract, of course, ended in incompetence and scandal. Since that disaster, Zinke has been running roughshod over the country’s federal lands, slashing budgets at the US Forest Service, BLM, and other critical agencies under the authority of the department. He has attempted to undo decades of environmental protections and putt our nation’s resources up for sale.
Zinke is now the subject of at least six federal investigations for ethical misconduct and policy violations. One, thought to be related to a shady land deal Zinke did with Halliburton’s CEO, has been referred to the Justice Department as a criminal case. What a nice guy.
Zinke is now going the way of the many before him, his reputation destroyed by being touched by Donald Trump.
And, in the words of Sonny and Cher, “The beat goes on.”
Zinke down ahead of the sinking ship and too st00pid to know it’s too late. He may not be the first in Speaker Pelosi’s basket of deplorables to be examined, but count on her to be aware of any statutes of limitation. Betsy DeVile may need to muster all her yachts for the grand escape. So many scoundrels would capsize one mere yacht.
Funny how the Outlaw Jersey Whale and Nick Akers dog paddled to lifeboats while trolling Donnie with twitter nyets on the CoS trap.
1…and the horse he rode in on.
2By all means, let him ride out on his horse!
3As my husband says “he’s just another one of Trump”s cronies to take his graft and go home to count it.” There’s hope we’ll see him again–in court.
4But be kind to the innocent horse.
5I’d like to add my joy at the impending exit of Ryan Zinke. He seemed like a overbearing, prickish, misogynist. I’d prefer he go out in handcuffs courtesy of the US Marshall Service but whatever it takes ….
6To be fair to Zinke, he didn’t need DJT’s curse to be in trouble, he was quite capable of destroying his (non-existent) good reputation on his own. Remember, he was a Congresscritter before he got the Interior Department gig. In that post, he made quite clear his allegiance to the folks that are hell bent on destroying the country’s natural beauty for their own greedy selves.
7So which moonscaping, extraction-loving, environment-hating climate-change denier will take his place? It won’t matter; anybody Trump picks will be a poisonous oil cookie from the same mold.
8Zinke’s career as a Navy Seal wasn’t exactly on the up and up, either.
https://themontanapost.com/2014/05/30/his-former-commander-exposes-ryan-zinkes-navy-seal-career-and-defective-moral-make-up/
On a personal note, my late father was a career DOI civil servant (and army veteran). He would have been appalled by Zinke’s criminal actions and by his policies to effectively destroy the environment. Good riddance, Zinke, and I hope you end up in the slammer.
9Rhea #8: sadly true, just as what happened when Pruitt went away. Bottom feeders all. Ugh.
10When Trump appointed him, Zinke called himself “a Teddy Roosevelt Republican.” I think all Zinke knew about TR was that he liked to hunt and shoot animals.
11Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Saturday that he’s resigning from his post in the Trump administration because of the cost of fighting off “false allegations.”
The cost of fighting “false allegations ” is the same excuse Miss Quitty Pants Palin used when she left the govenor position midterm.
12You have to wonder what Trump has on his bench to replace “all the best people.”
13It’s been reported that Zinke was told by Mango Mussolini to take a hike 3-weeks ago because of his corruptions’ bad optics…and…that Zinke begged to stay until after he threw a glamorous Xmas bash (at our expense) for lobbyists – me thinks: so he could ask for a job at the party (at our expense).
Late last night a Trump minted frothing at the mouth insomniac woke me up to shriek into the phone: “Zinke’s being replaced by Scott Walker” That was 3:30am left coast time…I wasn’t able to go back to sleep.
14Oh hell, he’ll just take a page from Papadopoulos’ book and run for something. And, given today’s political situation in our country, depending on where he does it, he might even win.
15