Linda McMahon, the sports entertainment monarch whom President Trump nominated to run the education sector, has envisaged lawmakers on Thursday to have a much reduced role for future agents, and if confirmed, it will bring that vision to fruition. He said he was about to try.
McMahon, a former executive at World Wrestling Entertainment, is in the midst of a fierce turbulence, and the very reason for this has been tapped to run a division challenged by the president. Trump repeatedly said he wanted to scale back the division if not completely removed, and set up a Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday, with almost similarities to American history.
McMahon stopped accepting calls to shutter the department. Instead, she made more roundabout plans to return to the period before the department was established in 1979. Meanwhile, she said state officials and other federal agencies have handled the department's current responsibilities more effectively.
“I'm really going to bring the president's mission back to the state,” she said. “I believe that the best education is closest to a child, as he does.”
McMahon walked lawmakers through her qualifications to oversee the country's school health on whether or not to close the department. On Wednesday, less than a day, when McMahon was scheduled to appear at the hearing, Trump said he wanted to see the department shut down “quickly” and call it a “big fraud.”
She first sets out some of the most pressing questions about that rhetoric by acknowledging that cutting federal funds for schools allocated by Congress is neither a goal she pursues nor a goal. I did.
However, she reiterates that many of the current duties, such as paying funds for special education and collecting students and teaching methods, may be better handled by other institutions. I proposed it.
“If you've seen participating and assessing these types of programs, it's my goal, because we still don't know the impact of all of these programs,” she said.
McMahon spoke about the gloomy results recorded last month for national examinations and national assessments of educational advancements. Conservative think tanks and lawmakers point to the results as evidence that the country's education system needs deep change and as justification for policies aimed at expanding access to private and religious schools. .
She was featured at hearings by Sens. Tim Scott of South Carolina and Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama. They called for relocation from public schools and traditional university programs.
In her opening statement, McMahon took up the subject and promoted novel ways to train the country's future workforce.
She also checked through priorities Trump had already set for the agency through recent executive orders. One of the orders focuses on school choices, a topic she highlights most. Other priorities of the administration revolve around cultural issues, such as gender, race, sexuality and the fight against anti-Semitism.
Trump's recent appointees have taken steps to turn departments into vehicles to defeat schools and organizations that are already perceived as hostile to the president's agenda. On Wednesday, the department launched a new investigation of two Scholastic Sports Associations, Minnesota and California. This showed that trans athletes were able to continue to compete with teams that respond to gender identity.
The president has tasked with Elon Musk, the world's wealthiest person, to reduce the federal government, and his associates have looked at data from the education sector, flagged the program and raised cancellation grants. . With the coming staff cuts and mining of basic redirection of institutional functions, hundreds of more than 4,200 workers have been demoralized and warnings about the impact on educators.
Since last week, over 70 employees in the department have taken administrative leave due to years of diversity, equity and relationships with inclusive programs. And between Monday and Tuesday, the department cancelled dozens of grants that support most of its research work. At least 50 employees who were in probation status were fired this week, according to a union representing federal workers.
“It's always difficult to scale down. McMahon said it's always difficult to restructure and reorganize the ranks of the department.” “I've faced that in the business world because I know you'll have an impact on people's lives.”
On Tuesday, Trump would call for widespread cuts in the federal workforce through “attrition” and issue strict orders, including hiring “up to 1 employee for 4 employees starting.” has signed an order calling for wide reductions.
Like most Trump's candidates, McMahon is considered a loyal mid-EU, but has an unusually long record of supporting the president's political ambitions and maintaining his position in orbit. Masu.
During his first term, she served as head of small business management until she resigned in 2019, running the Political Action Committee in support of Trump. She then became chairman of the American First Policy Institute. It was a conservative think tank heavily deployed by former Trump officials, and came up with policy ideas in preparation for the second Trump terminology.
Trump's relationship with McMahon and her husband, Vince McMahon, dates back to the 1980s. This was a time when Trump was interested in wrestling ventures and TV success. He sponsored WWE broadcast WrestleMania when he appeared in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and has appeared on several occasions, including a scripted feud against McMahon, which was featured as “The Battle of the Billionaire.”
Their relationship is only more intertwined as McMahon emerged as a dedicated mega-donor in Trump's final three bids for the presidency.
McMahon, whose husband is being separated, is the sixth largest donor to Trump during his bid in 2024, bringing over $20 million to Trump's reelection campaign and related PAC, edited According to data that was released, Open Secrets, the government's transparency group. She gave over $360,000 to support Trump's presidential election in 2020.
McMahon also gained position and influence through his relationship with the president, taking on the role of senior advisory at multiple conservative policy bodies and conservative news site Daily Caller. She also received $18,400 quarterly retainers from Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Trump social media platform Truth Social, and thousands of shares in the company in compensation for work with the group.
Many who worked with Ms McMahon have noted that she maintains power within her political insight and the president's inner circle. When Trump resigned from his cabinet in 2019, he praised her as a “superstar.”
She resigned from those positions and vowed to sell from Trump's business if confirmed.
McMahon, like Betsy DeVos, the Secretary of Education during Trump's first term, is extremely wealthy, and according to financial disclosures raised prior to the hearing, she is the pro-wrestling empire she built. We report annual income from holdings.
But the business empire she created, which produced that wealth, also prompted serious questions about McMahon's management and monitoring of ethical violations.
Under her leadership, various iterations of World Wrestling Entertainment have created a stream of complaints accounting for ramp-prolonged substance abuse and sexual misconduct throughout the business. McMahon claims he was nominated as a defendant in a pending Maryland lawsuit and failed to take action against an employee accused of a minor sexually abused working for the organization.
Critics say her relatively lack of educational experience amidst a tide of conservative responsiveness directed towards the department to navigate the impact of Trump's agenda on the country's schools . She obtained a certificate to teach French and provided a brief stint with the Connecticut Board of Education. She was also a university councillor at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.
