Donald Trump picks Billy Long of Missouri to head IRS • Missouri Independent

Former Missouri congressman Billy Long was named head of the Internal Revenue Service by President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday night.

Trump called Long – who served six terms representing a district in southwest Missouri – a “people person” and added: “Taxpayers and the wonderful people at the IRS will love having Billy at the helm.”

Long was one of the first elected officials to jump on what was described as the “Trump bandwagon.” he claims to have coined. When most thought Trump’s candidacy was a joke or a publicity stunt, Long said he was all in, praising Trump to foreign leaders and GOP insiders who snickered at the idea of ​​the real estate mogul and reality TV star being the next president would.

“Trump, I saw it early on,” Long told The Independent in 2022, “he’s got the ‘it’ factor.”

After a long career as an auctioneer and several years as a conservative talk radio host, Long decided to enter the race in 2010 for the congressional seat that became vacant when Roy Blunt decided to run for the U.S. Senate.

Long said no one took him seriously.

“It was an eight-way race,” Long said, “and I was supposed to finish ninth. I was the Donald Trump of the race.”

He was seen as a candidate who was only in the race “to gain publicity,” Long said, “to help my business and blah, blah, blah, the same things they said about Trump.”

His own campaign advisers told him he was “too fat to be on TV,” he said. “And you can write that in the newspaper. They said, “You’re too fat.” You can’t go on TV. You’re going to scare people.'”