Relentless media 'storm' batters Zinke's tiny hometown

WHITEFISH, Mont. — Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's wild ride with the Trump administration, which famously began on horseback and could soon end tied up in House oversight hearings, has taken a toll on this mountain hamlet. Zinke's picturesque hometown in northwestern Montana has been inundated with calls and visits from national reporters, helping to create newfound political tensions and animosity toward Zinke and other newsmakers: anti-public lands activist Ammon Bundy, white supremacist Richard Spencer and the electrical grid company Whitefish Energy. The problems for the town started shortly before President Trump took office. On the eve of Trump's inauguration, Spencer, a Whitefish resident, sparked a media frenzy when he led a crowd in chanting "Hail Trump!" while making a Nazi salute in the nation's capital. Since then, the tourism-dependent town of 7,600 people has never been far from the headlines. After Spencer's antics faded from view, Zinke rode a horse to the Interior Department on his first day as secretary and then scandals involving him — and in some cases Whitefish — soon emerged...MORE