While Trump’s pick for education secretary is relatively unknown in academic circles, she is famous in another: the WWE ring.
Former wrestling mogul and billionaire Linda McMahon has stunned educators by being unveiled as Trump’s choice to run the Department of Education – or, perhaps, to lead the operation to scrap it altogether.
But how much education experience does she actually have?
McMahon, a major Republican donor, has more experience in the business world than education and was reportedly after the Commerce job that Trump ended up giving to Howard Lutnick.
The billionaire served on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year starting in 2009 after stepping down from WWE. She told lawmakers at the time that she had a lifelong interest in education and once planned to become a teacher, a goal that fell aside after her marriage to Vince McMahon.
She also spent years on the board of trustees for Sacred Heart University in Connecticut.
After news of her nomination broke, the National Education Association claimed that McMahon lied about having a degree in education when she was nominated to Connecticut’s State Board of Education.
The organization cited a New York Post article from 2010, which claimed her degree was actually in French.
The association also said McMahon is “grossly unqualified” to be Secretary of Education. “Like Betsy DeVos, McMahon has no background in public schools nor any understanding of what it takes to help every student thrive,” it said.
National Education Association President Becky Pringle said in a scathing statement that Trump’s pick shows the president-elect “could not care less about our students’ futures.”
“During his first term, Donald Trump appointed Betsy DeVos to undermine and ultimately privatize public schools through vouchers,” Pringle said.
“Now, he and Linda McMahon are back at it with their extreme Project 2025 proposal to eliminate the Department of Education, steal resources for our most vulnerable students, increase class sizes, cut job training programs, make higher education more expensive and out of reach for middle class families, take away special education services for disabled students, and put student civil rights protections at risk.”
The association called for the Senate to reject her nomination.
Others agreed with the education association’s sentiment.
“America’s schoolchildren and college students deserved an Education Secretary who brings deep education experience to the role,” Shaun Harper, a USC professor of education, public policy and business, told the Los Angeles Times.
“Instead, they got a former World Wrestling Entertainment executive. This is embarrassing and a slap in the face to our nation’s talented educators.”
But other educators have called for restraint.
Rick Hess, director of education policy studies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said he was withholding judgment until he learned more about McMahon.
“I don’t know McMahon. I’m looking forward to learning more about her views in the weeks to come. Those seeking reflexive celebration or condemnation should look elsewhere. That said, after the admirable performance of ‘outsider’ Betsy DeVos and the profound ineptitude of veteran school administrator Miguel Cardona, I’d avoid gross assumptions based on biography,” he said in a statement posted on X.
Meanwhile, Connecticut Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, who defeated her in US Senate races in 2010 and 2012 respectively, praised McMahon after Trump announced his choice. Blumenthal called her “a person of serious accomplishment and ability,” while Murphy said she was a “talented and experienced businessperson.”
McMahon ran twice for a US Senate seat in Connecticut, losing both times.
As a loyal Trump supporter, he chose her to lead the Small Business Administration during his first term. The agency gives loans and disaster relief to companies and entrepreneurs, and it monitors government officials’ compliance with contract laws.
In 2019, McMahon became the chair of the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action and she is the board chair of the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank.
Meanwhile, her husband Vince McMahon – who she is now separated from – is currently facing serious accusations of sexual misconduct and human trafficking.
They are both named in a civil lawsuit by anonymous plaintiffs who claimed ringside announcer Melvin Phillips Jr used his position at WWE to “groom and abuse” the “ring boys.” McMahon’s lawyer has called the suit “baseless.”
In what could perhaps signal her stance if she is approved for the education secretary post, McMahon has agreed with Trump’s war on wokeness.
“There’s too much of our woke environment,” she said last month on the Lou Holtz Show podcast. “There’s too much emphasis on DEI.”
However, she followed it up by saying: “Now, diversity, equity, and inclusion is important. I believe everybody should have the same opportunity, everybody should be treated equally.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report