Arnold Schwarzenegger stopped by the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday to speak out against gerrymandering with former Attorney General Eric Holder, but the actor’s outfit almost got more attention than his argument.
For the occasion, he donned a black suit with a black and white striped tie and a pair of outrageously patriotic cowboy boots.
The black boots depicted a bald eagle and the Great Seal of the United States set against an American flag background.
You can spot them in the video below, in which the 71-year-old former California governor says, “Hasta la vista to gerrymandering,” a line that refers to one of his famous “Terminator” phrases.
The Austrian-born Schwarzenegger previously wore the boots to the New Way California Summit in March of last year.
Oklahoma cowboy boot maker Lisa Sorrell told HuffPost that she made the boots for the actor and bodybuilder in January 2016 and that they cost $11,000. (Her prices start at $5,000.)
“I believe that for Mr. Schwarzenegger, the boots were a symbol of patriotism and love for the United States,” Sorrell told HuffPost via email.
“For myself, I name all of my boots after bluegrass and classic country songs. Those boots are titled ‘There’s a Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere,’ which is a classic country song, written in 1942, that tells of an American version of Heaven,” she added.
Sorrel said she makes 10 to 12 boots per year, as she doesn’t have any employees and all her boots are made by hand with hand tools and vintage machinery. Schwarzenegger is her only celebrity client to date, she said.
“Every color is a different piece of leather; there’s no painting,” she wrote.
“I find joy in each step of the process, from drawing each original design, cutting out each small piece of leather and sewing it into place on a vintage Singer sewing machine, fitting a customized form for each client, and putting all the pieces together to build a one-of-a-kind (literally, each one is unique) pair of cowboy boots.”
Schwarzenegger recently made headlines for posting a video of himself wearing a cowboy hat and biking after his mini pony Whiskey. The short clip is set to Toby Keith’s song “Should’ve Been a Cowboy.”
Should’ve worn his cowboy boots is more like it.