Trump names former wrestling executive as Education Secretary

Former administrator of the Small Business Administration Linda McMahon speaks during the last day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 18, 2024. FILE PHOTO/Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump nominated Linda McMahon, former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, on Tuesday to lead the Department of Education, which he has pledged to abolish.

Describing McMahon as a “fierce advocate for Parents’ Rights,” Trump said in a statement: “We will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort.”

McMahon is a co-chair of Trump’s transition team ahead of his return to the White House in January. It is tasked with filling some 4,000 positions in the government.

READ: Trump appointments signal ‘existential’ fight with China

Regarding McMahon’s experience in education, Trump cited her two-year stint on the Connecticut Board of Education and 16 years on the board of trustees at Sacred Heart University, a private Catholic school.

McMahon left WWE in 2009 to run in vain for US Senate, and has been a major donor to Trump.

Since 2021, she has chaired the Center For The American Worker at the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute.

During the election campaign Trump promised to do away with the federal education department when he returns to the White House.

“I say it all the time. I’m dying to get back to do this. We will ultimately eliminate the federal Department of Education,” he said in September during a rally in Wisconsin.

READ: Trump appoints TV celebrity ‘Dr. Oz’ to key US health post

At the Republican convention in Milwaukee, McMahon said she was “privileged to call Donald Trump a colleague and a boss,” as well as “a friend.”

Her ties with Trump go back to her years in the professional wrestling industry — she said she first met him as chief executive at WWE.

At the culmination of a staged feud, Trump once body-slammed her husband, legendary wrestling promoter Vince McMahon, and shaved his head in the middle of a wrestling ring on live television.

In 2017, she was confirmed as the head of the Small Business Administration, which is responsible for supporting America’s millions of small businesses, which employ around half the country’s private-sector workforce.

In nominating her, Trump pointed to her experience in business, helping to grow the WWE.

After leaving the administration, she served as chair of the pro-Trump America First Action SuperPAC, or political action committee.