Donald Trump named former WWE executive Linda McMahon as his pick to head the Department of Education Tuesday.
Trump announced the news in a statement shared on Truth Social.
McMahon is a longtime Trump supporter who worked during the convicted felon’s first term as the administrator of the Small Business Administration. Given that history her Cabinet nomination comes as less of a shock than most of the recent picks for the upcoming second administration.
For example, earlier Tuesday Trump announced he would nominate Mehmet Oz as administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He has also named other television personalities as his picks to critical positions, among them Fox Business host Sean Duffy for Secretary of Transportation, and ultra right wing Fox News commentator Pete Hegseth to be Defense Secretary.
Trump has also picked Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz to be his Attorney General — a curious choice given that Gaetz has been investigated multiple times on credible accusations of sexual misconduct and drug use — which to be clear he denies. Gaetz is also one of several Trump administration picks who won’t be required to submit to a background check. (A list that also includes Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick for Director of National Intelligence._
And Trump has named anti-vaccines activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head up the Department of Health and Human Services.
Nevertheless, McMahon’s selection is in line with her future colleagues, who comprise a collection of unqualified people actively opposed to the duties of their respective departments. And given her own prior history in politics, the nomination signals a deeply right wing turn with implications beyond the scope of the department.
Notably, in 2009 McMahon was appointed to the Connecticut Board of Education by at-the-time Republican Governor Jodi Rell. She resigned just over a year later due to the state’s law forbidding Board members to solicit campaign contributions.