With McMahon, Trump shrugs off lack of school experience for Education nod

For a normal administration, Linda McMahon would be an unusual pick for Education secretary. But President-elect Trump has given no indication he wants a normal administration.

McMahon has little direct experience with education but has been a friend and ally of Trump for decades and is the only person so far the president-elect has selected for a Cabinet secretary slot who also served in his first administration, specifically as head of the Small Business Administration.

Conservatives are cautiously optimistic about the pick, which was announced Tuesday evening, despite some controversies that surround McMahon right out the gate.  

“Speaking on behalf of myself, and, I think, most other people in D.C., I was kind of surprised,” said Max Eden, a research fellow at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute. 

“After the first reaction ... it's evolved into a kind of intrigued optimism, because I think there's a very strong case that she could be a great Education secretary, and that case is that she's clearly very personally close to Trump, very trusted by Trump, very loyal to President Trump,” Eden said, adding it is likely McMahon will be “extremely competent” in trying to execute what Trump campaigned on, including potentially eliminating the department altogether.

McMahon rose to fame as CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which she co-founded with her husband, Vince McMahon.

Her time directly involved in education has been minimal, apart from a year on the Connecticut State Board of Education and as a member of the board of trustees for Sacred Heart University.

But Trump's list of nominees is full of people with unusual resumes for their would-be jobs, from potential Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to Defense nominee Pete Hegseth, who is currently a Fox News host.

And critics of current Education Secretary Miguel Cardona say his extensive experience in the field has not translated to success.

Cardona's Free Application for Student Federal Aid "mess-up literally harmed thousands of low-income families, right?" said Robert Enlow, president of EdChoice. "And he had a huge education pedigree, so I kind of think that she might be the right person for the job, given what's needed at the Department of Education."

And others argue McMahon's time taking her small company and turning it into the massive WWE corporation is experience enough for running the bureaucracy of the Education Department.  

“I kind of got in the sense that she is seen, maybe by Trump, as somebody that could be put into a lot of different departments, probably because she has a history and pretty successful track record in business and running a large organization, and he may think that she is prepared to run any number of large organizations,” said Neal McCluskey, director of the Center for Educational Freedom at the Cato Institute.  

“And that is basically what the Department of Education is, it's a big bureaucracy, and her main job is to make sure that programs are administered successfully, which is more of a management job than it is an education job. So, from what I know of her, I don't see any reason that she wouldn't be successful as a secretary of Education,” McCluskey added. 

However, the choice to nominate McMahon has been seen by other experts as a signal that education policy will not be a top concern for Trump.  

McMahon had been floated as a potential Commerce secretary until that position was given to Howard Lutnick, the other co-chair of Trump’s transition team.  

“I think it's disappointing that President Trump sees the Department of Education as a consolation prize,” said Michael Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.  

“Given that it sounds like that Linda McMahon wanted to get the Commerce Department, and is getting the Department of Education instead — so that, I think, that is an indication that this is not a top priority for the president,” he added. 

McMahon will have huge tasks to fill: Trump has said he is looking to change the definition of Title IX after President Biden added protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. 

The president-elect has also talked about withholding federal funds from K-12 or higher education institutions if he dislikes their curricula — or their bathroom policies regarding transgender students.

But one of the biggest changes Trump is pushing for is no Education Department at all. 

“The other big thing I'm sure people are looking at as well is ‘Is she focused on dismantling the department?’ And I would like to see the department dismantled, but that's not something either she or Trump can do on their own, it's going to have to come through legislation in Congress, and until that happens, then her job remains executing the laws that require the secretary of Education to be involved,” McCluskey said.  

Though hardly Trump's most controversial nominee, McMahon does come with baggage after she was recently named in a lawsuit from her time as head of WWE. The lawsuit alleges she knew about an announcer who was allegedly sexually abusing “ring boys.” 

Those in the education world are still diving into the details of the case, but some are skeptical it will have an impact on her confirmation process. 

“I have not reviewed it in depth at this point, but the first thing that comes to my mind is just more lawfare, right? I mean, this was a suit that goes back to events that occurred in the 1980s and it was filed in October of 2024, a few weeks before she was presumed to, if [Trump] won, take some position. So, I just kind of have a blanket suspicion and skepticism of it without having gone into the details of it myself, so it's not of [special] concern to me,” Eden said.  

While liberals were never going to be thrilled with Trump’s Education pick, there was a small “sigh of relief” given the other names that were speculated for the position.  

“On one hand, I think she's utterly unqualified for the position, because she has, essentially, she has very little meaningful experience and expertise in education from what I could see. And in normal times, I think she would look like an outrageous selection for that position,” said Jon Valant, director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution.   

“The second thought, on the other hand, is that a lot of the other names that had been floated as potential candidates seemed more threatening in a lot of ways, and so I think some people are breathing a sigh of relief that she is, at least, not openly a culture warrior who's going to sort of pick up some of the fights that I think a lot of us have been eager to see fade away,” Valant said. “Now, she might do that. She's very much an unknown, so I think we still have to learn a lot about her and her priorities and what she might do if she is ultimately confirmed for that.”