long, bill Rep billy mo
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President Donald Trump had big plans for outspoken MAGA ally Kari Lake, but with those plans having thoroughly imploded, a new MS NOW analysis explained how she has been given a familiar "consolation prize."
Lake first emerged as a news anchor in Phoenix, Arizona, before making the jump to politics as an avowed supporter of Trump and the MAGA movement. Despite high hopes for her as a future star for the Republican Party, the transition largely flopped, as she lost the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial race to Democrat Katie Hobbs and the 2024 Senate race to Democrat Ruben Gallego.
With no actual electoral success to her name, Trump attempted to install her as the next director for Voice of America, the international broadcaster funded by the U.S. government, amid plans to gut the institution and reshape it into a more right-wing form with the help of One America News. This effort, too, fell flat after a judge ruled that she was ineligible to serve at the head of VOA, invalidating her tenure and reversing the mass layoffs she had overseen.
In the wake of all that failure, Trump on Monday nominated Lake to serve as the new ambassador to Jamaica, echoing an emerging pattern of the president placing close allies in key diplomatic roles.
"President Trump on Monday appointed Kari Lake, a fierce ally of the president who had led the administration’s efforts to shutter Voice of America and other federally funded news groups, as the next ambassador to Jamaica," the New York Times reported this week. "Her appointment, if confirmed by the Senate, would end her tumultuous time at the parent agency for federally funded news groups that broadcast to countries with limited press freedom, such as China, Russia and Iran."
Writing about the development on Tuesday, Steve Benen, a longtime contributor and producer for MS NOW, wrote that the appointment of Lake fit a growing pattern from the administration and its handling of MAGA allies with failed political ambitions.
"Lake’s nomination coincided with the president also tapping Pennsylvania’s Doug Mastriano — another prominent Republican election denier who launched a gubernatorial campaign that failed — to serve as U.S. ambassador to Slovakia," Benen wrote. "The far-right state senator will also need to be confirmed by the Republican-led Senate. Time will tell when and whether Lake and Mastriano receive the support they’ll need on Capitol Hill, but their nominations are emblematic of a larger pattern: The White House sure does like to hand out ambassadorships to those whose earlier political plans didn’t quite work out."
Benen further detailed the various names who received a similar parachute from Trump: Mike Waltz was named U.N. ambassador after being ousted as White House national security adviser; former GOP Rep. Billy Long went from an "incredibly short tenure" leading the IRS to serving as ambassador to Iceland; and, John Giordano went from a failed interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey to serving as the ambassador to Namibia.
"Even Kristi Noem, after her many failures as the head of the Department of Homeland Security, made the transition to a diplomatic role as 'special envoy' to the Shield of the Americas, a poorly defined security initiative for the Western Hemisphere," Benen concluded. "As an Associated Press report summarized last year, 'Diplomacy may be soft power, but in President Donald Trump’s administration, it’s also lately a soft landing.'---
8 12 FIRED BILLY LONG IRS FOR NOT GIVING UP ALL DATA ON IMMIGRAnts?
amb to iceland?
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President Donald Trump sent the military into Venezuela to seize the then-sitting president and he has since decided that the U.S. will takeover the Arctic island Greenland. Now, the ambassador is making alleged jokes about Iceland, but the founding NATO member nation isn't laughing.
Politico reported Thursday that the Icelandic ambassador from the U.S. has been called to explain himself to those in Reykjavík fearful that they're next after Greenland.
Billy Long, who served as the head of the IRS for 53 days before he was shifted to the ambassador post, hasn't been confirmed by the Senate, but he's already at work with the volcanic island trying to become its next "governor." Long was on the floor of Congress Wednesday night when he commented to other colleagues that Iceland would be the next state and he'd be the leader of it.
“The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has contacted the U.S. Embassy in Iceland to verify the veracity of the alleged comments,” Iceland’s foreign ministry said in a statement to the site.
“These words of Billy Long, who Donald Trump has nominated as ambassador to Iceland, may have been said in half-hearted terms, but they are insulting to Iceland and Icelanders, who have had to fight for their freedom and have always been a friend of the United States,” a petition started by Icelanders said.
They are now calling on Long to be rejected as the ambassador of the island.
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an 4 25
Busted: 'Serious questions' raised over Trump appointee's finances
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rww
06/04/2025
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- Timothy Noah @ The New Republic: Meet Elon Musk’s Puppet Master: Russell Vought
Elon Musk may have “left Washington” last week, but the Department of Government Efficiency won’t miss a step. That’s because Musk was never running DOGE in the first place. I’m not suggesting that Amy Gleason was in charge. Gleason, you may recall, is the government official whom the White House last February named as a sort of papier-mâché acting DOGE administrator as part of its legal sleight of hand to shield Musk from litigation. Gleason is a data expert who worked for Musk, not the other way around. No, I’m talking about Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought.
- Zachary Leeman @ Mediaite: Judge Warns Mike Lindell to Stop Posting About and Discussing Defamation Trial on Social Media
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell was warned by the judge presiding over his defamation trial to stop discussing the proceedings on social media.
- David Edwards @ Raw Story: Mike Lindell's trial attorneys won't argue his vote-rigging claims are true
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's attorneys have declined to argue that his election-rigging claims are true at a defamation trial in Colorado this week.
- David Moye @ HuffPost: Marjorie Taylor Greene Freaks Out After She Finally Reads Bill She Voted For
"I would have voted NO if I had known this was in there," she said about a provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill that the House passed last month.
- Hunter Walker @ Talking Points Memo: Internal Docs Raise Questions About Trump IRS Pick Billy Long’s ‘No-Show Jobs’ And ‘Strange’ Schedule Inside A Powerful Agency
It’s not quite clear what is happening with former Missouri Congressman Billy Long and his associates at the federal Office of Personnel Management, where he has been a senior advisor to the director since March.
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pro publ 12 24
Billy Long, Trump’s Nominee to Lead the IRS, Touts a Credential That Tax Experts Say Is Dubious
The former representative from Missouri, who once pushed to abolish the IRS, has marketed himself as a certified tax and business advisor after attending only a three-day seminar.
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an 12 24
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to run the Internal Revenue Service, former Rep. Billy Long, didn't serve on the House committee tasked with writing tax policy during his six terms in office, and his lack of relevant experience is likely "exactly what Trump was looking for," according to one economic justice advocate.
Progressive lawmakers joined advocates on Wednesday in denouncing Trump's selection of Long, who since leaving office in 2023 has promoted a tax credit that's been riddled with fraud and who spent his time in the House pushing to abolish the very agency he's been chosen to run.
As a Republican congressman from Missouri, Long repeatedly sponsored legislation to dismantle the IRS, which under President Joe Biden has recovered at least $1 billion from wealthy people who previously evaded taxes.
He also co-sponsored legislation to repeal all estate taxes, which are overwhelmingly paid by the wealthiest households, but "said almost nothing on the floor regarding taxes, the IRS, and taxation during his 12 years in Congress," said John Bresnahan of Punchbowl News.
Long's limited experience with tax policy "ought to set off alarm bells," saidSen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who pointed to "vastly improved taxpayer service" under the leadership of IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel, who Biden chose to replace Trump's nominee from his first term, Charles Rettig, after Rettig served his full term.
Werfel has "set up a tremendous direct-file system, and begun badly needed crackdowns on ultra-wealthy tax cheats who rip off law-abiding Americans," said Wyden. "If Trump fires Mr. Werfel, it won't be to improve on his work; it'll be to install somebody Trump can control as he meddles with the IRS."
The appointment is likely to commence an "open season for tax cheats," said Lindsay Owens, executive director of Groundwork Collaborative.
Since leaving office, Long haspromoted the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC), a pandemic-era credit that was intended to incentivize employers to continue paying workers during the economic shutdown when the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States.
He has worked to help businesses claim the credit from the IRS, but fraudulent and improper claims have so permeated the program that the IRS stopped processing new claims temporarily. The U.S. House passed a bill to entirely halt ERTC claims, but it has been stalled in the Senate.
"These ERTC mills that have popped up over the last few years are essentially fraud on an industrial scale, conning small businesses and ripping off American taxpayers to the tune of billions of dollars," said Wyden. "I'm going to have a lot of questions about Mr. Long's role in this business, first and foremost why the American people ought to trust somebody involved with a fraud-ridden industry to run an agency that's tasked with rooting out fraud."
Wyden also pointed out that Long has not been named in a "typical nomination like you'd see after every presidential election." Werfel's term was set to go until November 2027, and the IRS typically operates as a nonpartisan agency.
"Replacing Commissioner Werfel with over three years remaining in his term is a terrible mistake," said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.). "He has done an excellent job rebuilding the IRS, boosting customer service, and enhancing enforcement aimed at wealthy tax evaders. Removing him will clearly signal Trump's intention to make the agency less responsive to the American people, while giving a green light to wealthy tax cheats to evade their fair share of the tax burden."
"Trump's nominee has clearly stated that he wants to abolish the IRS," added Beyer. "The change Trump proposes in IRS leadership would be a gift to tax cheats and a blow to anyone who believes it is important to rein in deficits."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) added that Trump's nomination of Long signals "the weaponization of the tax agency."
"If he's confirmed," she said, "taxpayers can expect longer wait times for customer service, a more complicated process to file taxes, and free rein for the rich and powerful to continue rigging the system at the expense of everyone else."
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an ah 1 23
Friday, January 6, 2023 marks the second anniversary of what historian Michael Beschloss has described as one of the darkest days in United States history: the January 6, 2021 insurrection. That day, a violent mob of MAGA Republicans and Donald Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol Building in the hope of preventing the certification of now-President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
As violent as that attack was, Beschloss has emphasized that it could have been much worse and escalated into “assassinations and/or hostage-taking” if the insurrectionists had been able to get to either members of Congress or then-Vice President Mike Pence. Some of the insurrectionists were calling for Pence’s murder that day, chanting, “Hang Mike Pence, hang Mike Pence.” And a hangman’s gallows was set up outside the Capitol.
Two years ago, Corporate America was quick to condemn the Capitol insurrection. But in an in-depth report published by Mother Jones on January 5, journalist Tim Murphy laments that some companies have since made campaign contributions to “Stop the Steal” Republicans who tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
READ MORE: Law professor’s Jan. 6 takeaway: the 'threat of political violence' is 'far from over'
“Two years after President Donald Trump incited a mob to storm the U.S. Capitol and halt the certification of the Electoral College results, the January 6 insurrection is still a live wire in American politics,” Murphy explains. “Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy last month for his role in the riot. Advocates of Trump’s election lies received such an intense electoral rebuke in the midterm election that Democrats actually expanded their majority in the Senate…. But many of America’s largest companies have long since moved on.”
Murphy adds, “In the first national election since a sitting president tried to overturn the popular will, some of the country’s biggest brands showered election deniers with millions of dollars in donations via their political action committees.”
The Mother Jones reporter goes on to cite specific examples of companies that condemned “Stop the Steal” Republicans and election denialists two years ago but have since given them donations.
“In the days after the insurrection,” Murphy recalls, “dozens of companies told Popular Information and other outlets that they were pausing or reconsidering their political donations.Hallmark, which had donated to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) in the past, singled him out by name in its statement condemning the attack. Big-pocketed corporations such as Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Comcast, PricewaterhouseCoopers and AT&T promised to suspend all contributions to members of Congress who voted against certifying the results either temporarily or for the entire 2022 cycle.”
READ MORE:January 6th 'fake elector scheme' offers a clear 'path to prosecuting Trump': attorney
Murphy continues, “But not only did each of those six companies eventually turn the spigot back on, they all ended up writing checks to help reelectRep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) —a leading opponent of certification whose own chief of staff attempted to distribute a fake slate of electors on the day of the insurrection, according to the January 6 Committee. Kelly, a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee from a heavily Republican district, was a major recipient of corporate cash. Other contributors included PACs belonging toIntel and Verizon, both of which had told Popular Information they were suspending donations to the election-rejecters; Aflac, which had said it would be pausing all its political donations for an unspecified amount of time;Johnson & Johnson; FedEx; and the spirits-producing Sazerac Company.”
The Mother Jones reporter points out that during the “2022 cycle,” Anheuser-Busch “gave $139,500 to election-denying members of Congress” in addition to giving a “maximum contribution” to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC).
“Among the dozens of recipients:Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.), who tweeted that the election was ‘RIGGED’ for Biden in the run-up to January 6 and afterwards shared misinformation alleging that ‘Antifa thugs’ were responsible for the riot,” Murphy reports. “Airlines were major supporters of Stop the Steal candidates. Delta Airlines gave $225,000 to election-denying members of Congress, according to ProPublica‘s searchable database. Southwest Airlines’ ‘Freedom Fund’ gave $39,500 to election-rejecting candidates, including Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), who tweeted on January 3, 2021 that he’d just met ‘with folks from Stop the Steal’ at our nation’s Capitol’ and ‘encouraged them to keep fighting.’”
Murphy adds, “American Airlines, which told Popular Information that it was pausing all political contributions for three months, eventually funneled $165,000 to dozens of Republicans who voted not to certify the election results, including Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who asked Trump for a pardon after helping to organize congressional opposition to certification.”
READ MORE:Highlights from the latest batch of January 6th Select Committee transcripts
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mma
Right-wing “journalist” Laura Loomer was de-verified on Twitter in 2017 after she exploded in an unhinged anti-Muslim meltdown, which prompted her to compare the site to Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler. Today, she joined other conspiracy theorists—including Alex Jones—on Capitol Hill and made her presence felt at hearings featuring Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
Allegations that Twitter and other major social media platforms have discriminated in the enforcement of their terms of service to target conservatives have for the past year been bubbling out of the conspiracy theory fever swamps of the internet—where right-wing activists have been subject to suspensions and bans as platforms move to combat misinformation—into the GOP mainline, where they have inspired Congressional hearings. Aside from a handful of anecdotal stories about terms of enforcement errors, no tangible evidence exists to prove that tech companies are actually doing what the conspiracy theorists—and now GOP members of Congress—have claimed.
Today, representatives from Facebook and Twitter were called to testify before the House and Senate about misinformation on the platform and the way enforcement is carried out. The hearings attracted a swarm of right-wing media figures who work in the conspiracy theory media market, including Infowars’ Jones, One America News’ Jack Posobiec, alt-right troll Chuck Johnson, and Gateway Pundit’s Cassandra Fairbanks. These conspiracy theorists did not go quietly.
Jones spent a brief moment lambasting CNN’s Oliver Darcy, whose reporting on Infowars’ de-platforming has led Jones and his colleagues to target him with a smear campaign alleging that Darcy is anti-American and working on behalf of the communist Chinese government. [pix twit]When Twitter’s Dorsey exited the Capitol after the morning meeting, he faced a scrum of reporters intermingled with conspiracy theorists. As Dorsey entered his vehicle, Loomer yelled at him: “You unverified me and called me a white supremacist! I’m Jewish!You violated my First Amendment right.” Jones rambled about something to do with CIA and Barack Obama.
When Dorsey returned in the afternoon, he headed to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce for a personal grilling from Republicans based on the unsubstantiated claim that his website is systemically censoring conservative voices. While Dorsey repeatedly denied that his site discriminates against conservatives, he received a second dose of Loomer’s antics.
About an hour after the afternoon session began, Loomer interrupted the House hearing by bellowing that President Trump must “help us before it’s too late because Jack Dorsey is trying to influence the election, to sway the election so that Democrats can steal the election.” Rep. Billy Long of Missouri began rattling off like an auctioneer while Capitol Police escorted Loomer out of the chamber[pix]
But as HuffPost’s Ashley Feinberg rightfully pointed out, while Rep. Long and his GOP colleagues may have enjoyed ridiculing Loomer, the conspiracy theories pushed by Loomer and her ilk are the basis of today’s largely pointless meetings.
Tags: Alex JonesCassandra FairbanksCharles JohnsonJack PosobiecLaura Loomerconspiracy theoriesMediatech companiesGateway PunditInfoWarsOne America News
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