President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the IRS is an award-winning former auctioneer whose auctioneering antics when viral during his 12 years in Congress.
“I am pleased to announce that former Congressman Billy Long, of the Great State of Missouri, will be appointed to serve as the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS),” Trump posted to his Truth Social platform Wednesday, touting Long’s background:
“Billy brings 32 years of experience running his own businesses in Real Estate and, as one of the premier Auctioneers in the Country. He then served 12 years in Congress, because he ‘felt it was important for his constituents to have a Representative who has signed the front of a check!’
“Since leaving Congress, Billy has worked as a Business and Tax advisor, helping Small Businesses navigate the complexities of complying with the IRS Rules and Regulations.”
What Trump failed to mention was that Long was voted “Best Auctioneer in the Ozarks” multiple times and is an inductee in the National Auctioneers’ Association Hall of Fame.
Long went on to make colorful use of his talents as a congressman.
In 2011, he adopted his auctioneer persona to emphasize the rapid growth of the national debt:
That same year, he mocked how Democrats’ $3.5 trillion spending bill turned into a $4.3 spending plan:
Appearing at an event with Donald Trump at the Southern Border that same year, Long playfully auctioned off the remainder of the former president’s border wall that went unbuilt after Joe Biden entered the White House.
In 2018, then-Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) employed Long’s talents in a light-hearted video cheering the nation’s economic strength during the Trump Administration.
At a House hearing in 2018, Congressman Long drew laughs and applause when he launched into auctioneer mode to drown out a heckler disrupting the proceedings.
In 2019, Rep. Long jokingly auctioned off the Stanley Cup during a White House event hosting players from that year’s NHL Champion St. Louis Blues. At the ceremony, Long announced that he had raised $15,000 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital by auctioning off a tie signed by Pres. Trump.
And, in another actual auction, Rep. Long auctioned off a replica of Air Force One at the 2021 Lincoln Days celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birth in Hodgenville, Kentucky.