Trump fires his own IRS chief after two months

Plenty of chaos brewing all over:

Billy Long, the former auctioneer and Republican congressman who was confirmed less than two months ago as head of the Internal Revenue Service, has been abruptly removed from the post by President Trump, the administration disclosed on Friday.

Mr. Long, who had little background in tax policy beyond promoting a fraud-riddled tax credit, had clashed at times with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during his brief tenure, three people familiar with the decision said. He also made high-profile mistakes, at one point last month telling tax practitioners that the agency’s all-important filing season would start late next year, a statement that the I.R.S. later said was premature.

A gregarious and colorful personality, Mr. Long had tried to cultivate a connection with the depleted and demoralized I.R.S. work force. He visited I.R.S. locations around the country and repeatedly sent emails to all I.R.S. employees allowing them to leave work early on Friday afternoons.

“With this being Thursday before another FriYay, please enjoy a 70-minute early exit tomorrow. That way you’ll be rested for my 70th birthday on Monday!” Mr. Long wrote to staff on Thursday.

His departure intensifies the management turmoil that has plagued the agency since Mr. Trump took office. Mr. Bessent will serve as the acting head of the I.R.S. while the Trump administration finds and confirms a new commissioner, a senior administration official said, making the Treasury secretary the seventh individual to lead the tax agency this year.

Also this is the kind of detail you would add to a hack political satire:

Mr. Long wrote on social media that he would be nominated to become the next U.S. ambassador to Iceland. “It is a honor to serve my friend President Trump and I am excited to take on my new role as the ambassador to Iceland,” Mr. Long wrote. “I am thrilled to answer his call to service and deeply committed to advancing his bold agenda. Exciting times ahead.

As always, the Republican thesis that government doesn’t work is more in the nature of a long-term master plan, and in this regard Trump has always been the most conventional possible representative of his party.

. . . a tax professor friend says: “I think it may be because he didn’t want to fire 1000s of people, and was too stupid to realize that’s what the job entailed.”