Don Young describes how he got cross-threaded with Donald Trump

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In an interview with The Washington Post, Congressman Don Young said that his vote for the massive infrastructure bill drew the ire of former President Donald Trump, but it’s not concerning him.

“Rep. Don Young knew the call would not end well, as the Alaska Republican forcefully rejected Donald Trump’s plea to oppose the more than $1 trillion infrastructure legislation,” the Wa-Po reported.

“How did the former president take the news?” the newspaper asked.

“Not well,” Young recalled, but there wasn’t any shouting. “No, no, no, no, no.”

“Young, 88, the longest-serving member of Congress, thought about all the contradictions he saw in Trump, particularly the chaotic style that made him a politically toxic figure.

“’I think his policy is just so good,” Young said during a 45-minute interview this week. “Just shut up — that’s all he has to do. He’s not going to. I know that.”

Of all the Republicans Trump has targeted in the past few months, none have quite the carefree attitude of Young. His political sin was voting Nov. 5 for the massive infrastructure package over Trump’s objection, along with his quick embrace of the 2020 election results that showed Joe Biden’s victory.

The newspaper continued, detailing all the foes that Young has beat in his long career: the FBI, both congressional ethics committees, a case of Covid-19, “and every political challenger since his 1972 loss to a congressman who was probably dead at the time.”

He has gone from being a powerful chairman of two committees to an outsider who sits — literally every day Congress is in session — on the very back bench of the House chamber, the paper wrote.

The newspaper said that Young is not worried about being aligned with President Joe Biden, in a state that is still Donald Trump country.

He prominently hung a photo of Biden, in the Oval Office next to Young and Alaska’s Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, for the signing ceremony of a law that helped revive Alaska’s tourism industry. The photo of Biden joins those with nine other presidents Young served with along a wall in his office,” the Wa-Po reported.

Read The Washington Post story, which is behind a paywall, at this link.

82 COMMENTS

  1. Young had ethical problems. He’s been our impotent Congressman for years.

    Now he’s betraying Alaskans for his vendetta against Trump? No thanks, Don!

    • I don’t care about record inflation, gas prices, CRT, Afghanistan. I’m just thankful we have a “presidential” president

      • Are they handing out flavored crack to kids now? What flavor have you been smoking, Dan?
        We now have a 100% senile embarrassment as a ‘president’. He was an embarrassment before the full blown senility, now we just look completely pathetic and sad. But at least he is destroying the USA, so there’s that.

    • I couldn’t agree more
      I don’t recall big Don asking me how I would like him to vote on the infrastructure bill
      I don’t recall big don asking me if I thought the vaccine tracking bill was a good idea either
      I wonder how our elected officials know which way we want them to vote if we are never asked??
      It’s been my experience that we read about how they vote on a piece of legislation AFTER THE FACT.

    • During the past few years, I’ve engaged in several, extended, face-to-face conversations with Representative Young. One thing I can guarantee he is not, is an idiot. Quite the contrary.

      • Well, he is sure fooling a LOT of people, then, including many of those who have voted for him.
        .
        Idiot, or traitor, I don’t care which: Don Young has become the quintessential pro-big-government swamp creature, and has to go.

  2. Well, when politics is a cult, anyone who thinks outside the box is toxic.

    With the amount of “service” Don has given, it is time for TERM LIMITS!

  3. Don supported the database to track Americans who have and have not been vaccinated. I deeply regret voting for him. That move of his was as unamerican as it gets. He has ruined any legacy he may have had.

  4. For the Washington Post to minimize the role of Congressman Young and describe him as a “back-bencher” is simply factually wrong and moronic. Serious people know that is not the case. The Congressman has recently done a number of things that I do not agree with, but that does not make him irrelevant.

    • Very correct. Young is not irrelevant. He is dangerous and less than useless. He is cooperating with socialists, leftists, and fascists. That pretty much makes him those things now. It’s what he votes for. Yessiree jmark. Not irrelevant.

  5. His “infrastructure” bill vote was Socialist RINO c—, but his most recent vote on clot shot spying is Anti American.
    That traitor has got to go.

    • That is for sure, Matt! Donny’s expiration time in the US Congress has passed quite a while ago already.
      .
      And I don’t give a fig about how Don got “cross-threaded” with Trump! He’d do better to try to explain how he (Don Young) got cross-threaded with Alaskans.

  6. Don can’t be gone soon enough!! He has totally come out as a full blown Liberal. Donny may have over stepped His ego

  7. Don Young should be ashamed of himself and his recent votes that sold our country to the tyrants.
    His future will be bright: as it is lit by the flames of fire that will burn him out of office the first chance we get.

  8. Even worse this fool is pushing for mandates and passports.
    Sent me a letter saying that his saline was great and he recommended I get the real jab.

  9. Sorry, Don. I will be voting against you this time. You’ve been in office far too long. If I can’t find another candidate on the ballot, I will write in:
    Michael Tavoliero.

  10. The Feds dole out the money they will each year to the various states. And each year worthless senators and congress people like Murkowski, Sullivan, and Don Young take credit for “fighting” for Alaska.

  11. Don, you represent what people are tired of in DC. You are a swamp creature that has sold out to special interests and you have overstayed your welcome as Alaska’s congressman. Please withdraw from the election and allow someone to represent us that actually cares for our State and our Nation. We want smaller more responsible government that adheres to the U.S. Constitution and protects our rights under it. These things are foreign to the way you operate. For every bill you help the Demonrats pass, you drive a stake in the heart of this great nation. Your time is over, resign!

  12. Better be worried Don. My wife and have voted for you every cycle since 91 but as The Raven said, “Nevermore.”

  13. Ti Leu lane anyone. It’s at the end of the Pt McKenzie road. Railroad bed not completed, port useless. All taxpayer money Young helped steered to the state. Wonder what the taxpayers would think of how their money was spent. All this infrastructure he voted for. Show you a couple of bridges that end In a swamp.

  14. It is so easy to see who is for Alaskans/Americans and those who follow the globalist agenda. Did he fold to the globalist agenda or has he just deceived those who thought he was for us?
    Do,………..just retire and leave freedom to those who live for it.

  15. Don Young is a fossil. He comes from a time when Republicans were tax-and-spend liberals who thought their job was to vaccum as much federal money as possible. Time to retire and time for a true conservative (David Eastman?) to run against him

  16. Oh yes, Don, by all means tell President Trump to shut up. You know so much more. You were played by the Biden regime to support an infrastructure bill that is basically payoffs for democrat interests. Of course, you had plenty of help from Dan and Lisa on this one. Your jack-o-lantern grinning at the bill signing was over the top. You are way past the ‘sell by date’. You have been selling your ‘indispensable’ aura for years to Alaska voters. Now you will want another term so you can play committee chair when the democrats are swept out this fall.. Your latest vote to fund a national vaccine registry is sickening. Just go away, Don!

  17. We need term limits no doubt–only one term for every office in the USA; from president down to dog catcher. However, it only works if every state cooperates. I won’t criticize Don Young; he’s been a good representative. However, everyone is only as good as their last decision. I’m voting for Nick Begich.

    • Garnering votes for Begich is the theme of these articles on Young, no? It’s becoming apparent that Young’s actions are an attempt to steer votes to Begich as well. I would urge caution to the voter when an incumbent is attempting to crown his replacement.

    • Wayne Coogan, further on we need to revise the Civil Service laws. When the majority votes for a new Government one should get his wish granted, instead we have a class of entrenched Government Employees that pretty much do as they wish despite the will of the electorate and impede the new Boss’s directive. I say bring back the old system wherein when a Democrat got elected, the Republican Postman lost his job. The government is supposed to be serve the People, not the other way around.

  18. Don, you gotta go. You try to look like a republican but lately you’re acting like a back stabbing double-agent. How much buy-off money did you line your retirement fund with..?

  19. I have agreed with, disagreed with, defended, and voted for, Don, over many years.
    I have met him in person, and told him what I agreed with and disagreed with him on…….but his recent vote for the vax data base that puts us a huge step closer to joining Australia’s state of iron fisted totalitarianism is the last straw.
    .
    I am sad to say that under no circumstances whatsoever, will I ever support or vote for Don again.
    .
    It’s the end of era. Good bye, Mr. Young…….

    • You know he has been there since Richard Nixon declared Richard Nixon wasn’t a crook.
      It’s time Alaska. Vote for Freedom and Liberty.

  20. “…everyone is only as good as their last decision.” There is a Biblical parallel.

    “But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die.

  21. Alaska is quickly becoming Oregon/Washington, thanks to the likes of “Lets go Don Young”. Murkowski and Sullivan are not much better. Alaska, please wake up and start voting (at a minimum). The money dedicated to AK from the Infrastructure Bill is a total waste, and borderline fraudulent. None of the monies will help grow AK’s tourism. The money is being used for the wretched and obsolete AK shipping fleet, to dump millions into a dying goliath.

  22. The “infrstructure” package has very little to do with infrastructure. This is just super heating inflation. The US already spends billions on infrastructure every year but the costs are so inflated on the projects, with near zero oversight.

  23. Don, why did waste your time talking to that bezos rag? Don’t you have anything better to do? They’re surely not going to help you get reelected (your recent votes have probably sunk your ship anyway). You ought to know that whatever you say will be edited to fit their agenda.
    Term Limits!

  24. That one law was the Jones Act exemption. That was the one good thing BIden did. Too bad Washington Post didn’t emphasize that. All those other votes for the Biden agenda are harmful to Alaskans. Don Young has been a massive government, big spending RINO his whole career. He is no different this term.

  25. I agree with Wayne. Don Young is not irrelevant and he has done many good things. But voting for the vaccine database and taking away our rights is a bridge too far. Let’s hope Mr. Begich can be the representative we need..

    • Really? Really think the newest name in the patron political family of Alaska will be any different? I’m not buying it. We have continued to vote for the lesser of two evils resulting in a steep decline in governance lacking Liberty and Freedom. Kelly T will be no different. It’s time for different direction one that leads away from special interests; one that neither established party can stand for….Freedom and Liberty.
      Or we can continue support to 1.2T $ Infrastructure Bills, Miccichi-Bishop switcharoo dividend checks, vaccine mandates and ANC Assembly debacles. Surely we can do better.
      Vote Libertarian. Be brave. Have courage. Good governance is possible. It will require Alaskan voters to take a deep breath and vote their conscience over their party affiliations. Your Freedom and Liberty are priceless, you should vote like too.

      • Wrong.
        You obviously don’t know her or anything vital about her.
        And what is your positive idea?
        More Leftist Lisa?
        How about an actual viable plan that’s better?
        I didn’t think so.
        Libertarian is a joke. It’s a throwaway vote.
        I’m not voting for Ron Paul Junior (of which, oddly enough I don’t consider Rand to be. I’d give my eye teeth for a candidate like him. Kelly is the closest I can find with a good shot at winning.)

        • Matt- I know it’s hard to look at the evidence and not be madly frustrated, yet be too frighten to stray out of the box; hoping this election will be different and then being disappointed with the actions of our representatives.
          many folks are coming to the realization that each election results in the same frustration. So they are not voting which means non-Liberty minded candidates are selected. Just look at the Borough elections in Fairbanks Oct 21, 12% determined the outcome because the other 82% didn’t vote. It’s time man. Enough Alaskans are fed up with the Fed the same Fed, Dean Don Young has fed for nearly 5 decades, since Tricky Dick declared he wasn’t a crook at Disney. It’s time to rock the boat for Liberty and Freedom. It’s time for the only special interest that matters…Alaskans. The alternative is already determined debt ceiling raised, another trillion spent here or there, more failed regulations and a further degradation of Liberty and Freedom. The evidence is laid out, I encourage you to vote, be heard, be counted.

          • Been there, done that.
            I’m not aiming at my foot again and pulling the trigger.
            No Ron Pauls.
            Viable candidates only in this ‘rank choice’ stupidity.
            Come up with a viable, vote getting rockstar and THEN we’ll talk.
            But Kelly is a great candidate anyway. A little green, not Ron Paul, but great.
            I don’t think you really know hardly anything about her.

        • Matt- Thought you might find this interesting. From AKLEG.gov.
          ‘http://www.akleg.gov/basis/get_documents.asp?session=31&docid=21965’

          How much AK do you see in there vs DC?

          • Took a look. Saw nothing new or damning. I saw a darned impressive resume of education, public service, and following the law. Without being a wide-eyed conspiracy theorist, there is nothing anti-Alaskan and only pro-Alaskan.
            I encourage everyone to read this great resume.

  26. Is it possible that Young was a closet-crat for several years? One who finally decided it was time to “come out” and start noting like the liberal he has become? Alas, mental deterioration seems not to have been reserved for exceutive-level personnel.

  27. I withdraw my support for Don Young. I equate his deeds as the same as Mitt Romney! He has long since lost his ability to support Alaska over his dislike of Trump! I will do all I can to prevent him from going back to Washington DC. He is no longer an advocate for Alaska!

    • Vote for Freedom
      Vote for Liberty
      Vote Libertarian
      The DC cesspool is awash of representatives from both parties who have continually eroded your personal Freedom and Liberty, racking up 28T dollars of debt. It’s not a swamp to be drained; it’s a toilet to be unclogged of special interests and flushed.

  28. Telling Donald J Trump to shut up is real rich coming from Don Young who also is know speaking his mind and recieving public outcry for his own brazen statements and death handshake grip
    Hahaha

  29. Goodness, these old farts all require cognitive testing, regular testing, maybe do it with every booster they mandate. Let’s Go Brandon, you can step up to the plate with fancy Nancy.

  30. Creating incessant excuses and accusations, deflecting blame, and “not” taking personal accountability will never be a recipe for success. Be aware and vigilant of those who exemplify those character flaws and keep your distance.

  31. Criticism of elected officials is our right/duty. But please vote. If we dont vote for the one candidate we individually feel is the best on the ballot (or the least bad) we will usually end up with the worst. Name me one Democrat who has run against Don who you think would have been better. Remember, the “voice of the people” is determined at the ballot box. Thats our system. Every citizen has one vote, you, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Winner take all. If you demand perfection in a candidate, rather than just the best available, things stand little chance of getting better. If the worst candidate gets the most votes the “people have spoken”.

    • Get rid of our three swamp creatures by the best strategy. If that is a Democrat, then we try again next time after that with one that won’t sell us out. Wash, rinse, repeat. The treachery of a RINO is worse than garbage from a Demoncrat.

  32. I will write-in Mike Tavoliero before I’d ever vote again for this antiquated old RINO Young. Don has turned into a sorry, son of a swamp creature.

  33. What a bunch of horse pucky! He voted for the infrastructure bill that burdens the people of our country with every little/huge item Pelosi and the dem party want. He did them a huge favor, didn’t get much for the state and made Pelosi and the dems very happy. Nick Begich is my go-to guy for 2022!!

  34. Good for Don Young. Donald Trump is a dishonest ego maniac who has never done anything for Alaska. The infrastructure bill will bring billions of dollars to and create thousands of jobs in Alaska. Trump only opposed it because he didn’t want President Biden to get credit for its passage. Don Young’s vote put the interests of our state above the petty politics of our disgraced and twice_impeached former Prez. Well done!

    • You actually don’t like Trump but you like ‘let’s go Brandon’ ?!?!?
      So you have no use of reason and no credibility.
      Baseline established. Carry on.

    • And no. This socialist nightmare won’t bring thousands of jobs to Alaska. We have seen this bait and switch before. We actually live up here and remember. You want jobs?
      Drill baby, drill.

  35. The thing with the Washington Post article is that it is essentially a ‘bait and switch’.

    The story begins trying to pigeon-hole Congressman Don Young into being anti-Trump.

    I personally believe there were likely multiple iterations before the final copy was published.

    Don Young is the only Representative for All Alaska interests in the House.

    He does not sit on a back burner, he is not irrelevant.

    In fact, it is in Alaska’s best interest that he stays in his position for as long as he is able and willing to.

    Power in Congress is based on what most today may consider as archaic factors.

    But being from a state where national elections are decided oftentimes before 8 pm strikes in Alaska, tells me the importance of supporting what leverage and competitive advantage we have in Washington DC.

    If you don’t like what Don Young is doing, call him – write a letter – go to a local office or DC and talk about it.

    But voting for a potentially great – or not great obviously unproven- up and comer – out of spite just shoots everyone in their collective feet.

    Challenges should be made in campaigns.

    But individually, we need to ask ourselves if we are holding our necks out for Alaska’s best interest or someone else’s talking points who may ultimately have bigger fish to fry by any means necessary – including stepping on Alaskans.

    • In Alaska’s best interest? Really?
      That makes me wonder if you are a Demoncrat, or if you just like people that vote like Demoncrats and save Demoncrat agendas, if you live outside, or if you are writing this for Democrat Don Young or one of his staffers (or some combination of these).

  36. SHANNON, oops, I mean Mathew:

    $3.5 billion for water and sewer is enough in that infrastructure bill to tell me that it will benefit Alaskans.

    Maybe it doesn’t refinish the state responsibility of the sidewalk pavement to the Anchorage Concert Hall for symphony-goers comfort.

    And your quick reaction of trying to attack my opinions and comments by “putting me in a box” to undermine me- sadly – for you – missed the mark.

    Carry on.

  37. Democrat Don, Leftist Lisa, and Sellout Sullivan voted for this $1.2 trillion porkulous bill. Oh I know that Leftist Lisa doesn’t feel that she ever needs any justification to act like a Marxist, but Young? Et tu Brute?
    This monstrosity better have some damned huge pork for Alaska; not that it will be worth it to get some scraps for Alaska but cut America’s throat. Also, I do not see how the amount of pork that it may contain will ever be equal to the tax increases to Alaskan families that will come with it. It will not equal the damage that it does to the American economy. It will not equal the loss of freedoms that are also contained within that monstrosity.
    But for 4/10 of 1% of the total to get this Marxist c000 passed when it otherwise wouldn’t have? Sick. Wrong. Useless. Gone.

  38. Jay and Matthew,,

    I agree the freaking debt is out of control.

    But here is the reality I see.

    Likely, this monstrosity was passing anyways.

    With that actuality, I just think the Congresdilnal Delegation may ss well make sure there are carve outs for Alaska Infrastructure needs.

    I do not believe any of them went into this supporting, cospo soring, or proudly advocating for this bill.

    I think they came to a realization that it was passing regardless if they voted for it or against it.

    In that rock and a hard place. I believe they pivoted to ensure Alaska’s interests and infrastructure needs were included.

    Would it be better if they neglected to do anything, voted no, and the bill still passed but without any appropriations for Alaska infrastructure?

    Because, in that scenario, Alaskans still hold their portion of the debt burden.

    • Little story for ya. Trudy. I bought a toolbox at auction several years ago. Inside I found an authentic German mark note dated 1923 and denominated “fünfhunderttausend”. I thought I had struck it rich. I immediately went online to find out how rich I would be. It was worth $5. I gave it to my nephew.
      And, by the way, I read one time during the oil boom that Alaskans receive on average $750 more than they contribute back to the Feds.

  39. No. This bill would not have passed without these RINO turncoats. It would not be worth it for 5 times what we got. And that grinning idiot Young was there at the signing.
    There would’ve been some pork for Alaska either way, but at 4/10 of 1%, this isn’t even a bacon bit. It should’ve been scrapped along with all of the Marxist garbage and disappearing individual liberty.
    These three turncoats have got to go.

  40. When you’re a “Republican” and the Washington Post is writing puff pieces for you, you know you have lost your base.

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