Long Gone

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

In his never-ending quest to hire "only the best" people, Donald Trump selected former auctioneer Billy Long of Springfield, Missouri, to head the Internal Revenue Service.   Long did not gain Senate confirmation for the position until just two months ago, and in the interim, the second Trump administration burned through four acting IRS commissioners.  Yesterday Trump asked Long to "step aside" as  the head of the IRS and said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent would fill the role until another nominee was selected and approved by the Senate.

Billy Long, a former member of Congress who gave up a safe Republican seat to run for the US Senate from Missouri in 2022, had no experience as a tax administrator, but had been a tax adviser since leaving office in early 2023, and had briefly worked for a firm that distributed pandemic-era employee retention tax credits,  a program that was widely seen as fraud-ridden and later shut down by the IRS.  Long has also been accused of accepting campaign contributions after Trump nominated him to head the IRS.  He won Senate confirmation on June 16th of this year to head the IRS on a vote of 53-44.

Only the best!

Long's dismissal seems to be related to an inability on his part to get along with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the man who now becomes his temporary replacement.

With his abrupt departure yesterday,  Billy Long can claim the title of serving the shortest tenure of IRS commissioner since the agency was founded in 1862.  He was the agency's 51st commissioner.

Only the best!

And while the former auctioneer may have not been up to the rigors of managing an agency as complex as the Internal Revenue Service, he remains a steadfast supporter of President Trump, and Trump takes care of his people - when it's convenient for him to do so.  Trump announced yesterday that he would now be appointing the ex-auctioneer as Ambassador to Iceland.

Long then joked on "X" that he had called Trump and asked if he could join Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) like the actor Dean Cain.  "I guess he thought I said Iceland," Long lamented..  "Oh, well."

Pack those "long" johns if you got 'em, Billy!  

Only the best!