Is Iceland the Next Greenland?

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

There once was an auctioneer in southwest Missouri who dreamed of better things.  The man's name was Billy Long, and by being an auctioneer he was fairly well known around Springfield, Missouri, the area's urban center.  Long decided he was so well known that he could parlay his name recognition into a successful run in Republican politics.  His opportunity came in 2010 when Roy Blunt, the congressman from southwest Missouri, decided to give up his safe Republican seat in the House and run for US Senator instead.

Thanks to a crowded field that year with a total of eight GOP candidates, Long managed to win the Republican primary with 36% of the vote, and was subsequently elected to Congress in the fall where he served as a reliable Republican "yes" man for twelve years.  In 2022 Missouri's Republican US Senator Roy Blunt decided to retire, and a swarm of Republican toadies raced to replace him, including Congressman Billy Long who seemed to think that because Blunt had run successfully for the Senate with his base in Springfied and southwest Missouri, that same constituency would be happy to replace him with Billy, the auctioneer.  Long got his ass kicked in that primary and came in fourth with only five percent of the vote.

But every dog has its day, and Billy Long's political star was destined to rise again.  After being re-elected to the White House in 2024, Donald Trump inexplicably announced that former congressman Billy Long of Missouri was his choice to head the Internal Revenue Service, a job for which he had no experience.  During his confirmation process for that position, accusations were made that Long had been invelved in promoting fraudulent tax credits to business firms.  Long was eventually confirmed to lead the IRS, and he held that position for just fifty-three days (the shortest tenure of any IRS leader in history) before beng removed from the office by the President.

When Donald Trump removed Billy Long as head of the IRS, he immediately announced that he was naming the former congressman as the new US ambassador to Iceland.  Surely, Trump must have reasoned, there was nothing Billy Long could screw up in Iceland.

Wrong.

While awaiting Senate confirmation as ambassador ot Iceland, Billy Long happened be in the House chamber earlier last week visiting with some of his old colleagues.   During that visit someone joked about Jeff Landry - the current governor of Louisiana and Donald Trump's new "special envoy" to Greenland - beoming the next "governor" of Greenland, to which Long apparently joked back that Iceland would become the 52nd state, and he (Long) would be the governor of it.  

Politico reported that comment on Thursday morning, and Iceland, predictably, was not amused.  The country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs contacted the US Embassy in Reykjavik (the country's capital) to verify Long's remarks, and more than 2,000 Icelandic citizens have reportedly singed a petition asking the country's Foreign Minister not to accept Long's credentials if the US Senate does confirm him as US Ambassador to Iceland.

Was Billy Long just passing gas, or will Iceland be the next stepping-stone in Trump's pursuit of world domination?

Billy, as we say here in the Ozarks, it looks like you've stepped in it!