Trump nominates WWE billionaire Linda McMahon as Education Secretary

Donald Trump tapped his transition co-chair and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) co-founder Linda McMahon as his Education Secretary.

The 76-year-old was in the running to be the president-elect's pick to be Commerce Secretary but eventually lost out to Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick.

 Trump hailed McMahon as an advocate for school choice, allowing parents to send their children to a school of their choice. 

'As Secretary of Education, Linda will fight tirelessly to expand “Choice” to every State in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decisions for their families,' he said in a statement. 

McMahon could be the nation's last education secretary, if Trump has his way, as the president-elect has vowed to end the department and shift its administration back to the states. 

'Linda will use her decades of Leadership experience, and deep understanding of both Education and Business, to empower the next Generation of American Students and Workers, and make America Number One in Education in the World. We will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort,' Trump said.  

He has warned that shutting down the department could come early in his second term, but would need congressional approval to do it. 

McMahon set up WWE with husband Vince in 1980 and would take on-screen roles before she left in 2009 to run for the Senate in Connecticut a year later.

With Vince she saw the company turn into a publicly-traded media empire.

During Trump's first administration she served as the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, but now her loyalty has paid off with a more senior cabinet role.

She is the board chair of the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank that was formed in 2021. 

Betsy DeVos, Trump's first education secretary, recommended to DailyMail.com how the president-elect could tear up the department she once ran.

DeVos, who resigned in protest over Trump's leadership on January 6 but is back in Trump's fold, detailed to DailyMail.com ways he could realize his goal of fully dismantling the organization.

‘He has doubled down on his attention to the issues with education and I am very optimistic that he is going to make education and the reforms necessary a high priority in his second administration,’ she said to DailyMail.com.

The bloated agency has spent over a trillion dollars since its conception in 1979 during President Jimmy Carter's administration and now fills three different buildings in Washington, D.C., with over 4,000 employees.

DeVos said the Department of Education was created by Carter as a payoff to the teacher’s unions, and the entire department was filled with bureaucrats whose goals prioritized the the unions, not America’s children.

‘There are many ways to de-power the Department of Education and I am very optimistic that president trump in his second term is going to put the muscle behind seeing that happen,’ DeVos said.

She proposed that Trump should first pass federal tax credits to help parents pay for school choice, fueling education freedom across the country. She also proposed the federal government begin offering block funding grants to the states.

Title IX, she explained, would have to be clarified and fixed after the Biden administration tried to use it to enact a very controversial agenda around transgender students. DeVos proposed sending the enforcement of Title IX to the Justice Department.

She also criticized the Biden administration for ‘trying to buy votes’ by forgiving federal college student loans. She proposed sending the he Free Application for Federal Student Aid program to the Department of Treasury or moving to a private program.

‘The status quo is not going to back down at all and they’re not going to get quieter. Whomever is there is going to if they are standing up to the status quo they’re going to get all the protests and all the stuff the same way because they are fighting for power and control,’ she said.

DeVos resigned from her position after the January 6th riots on Capitol Hill in protest of President Joe Biden’s election certification, citing the importance of the ‘peaceful transfer of power.’

But she said that she had spoken to Trump since that day ‘very recently’ about his proposed education reforms and was enthusiastic about the possibilities.

She explained that the window of opportunity for dramatic reform was possible, citing the growing number of American parents realizing that the teachers unions were not prioritizing their children.

‘The status quo and the unions have overplayed their hands through the whole covid experience, it has opened families eyes, grandparents, communities, it has opened everyone’s eyes to how much control and influence and power these teacher unions have had and I think there is backlash against that today,’ she said.

DeVos did not rule out returning to the position, if Trump asked, and said there were a number of good people who could serve in the role.

She said the only way she would return was if Trump was serious about closing down the department and if Republicans were serious about passing a tax credit for educational freedom.

‘I want to help accomplish those goals in any way, I want nothing more than for him to be successful in seeing these policies through,’ she said.