President-elect Donald Trump’s new secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, is not exactly the school librarian type.
As the wife of WWE founder Vince McMahon, Linda has been heavily involved in the wrestling entertainment product for decades, much like Trump himself.
She even led the WWE organization as CEO.
The new executive branch Cabinet member was even the recipient of violent wrestling moves during WWE events decades ago.
Clips of McMahon’s body slams have resurfaced across social media in the days since the announcement of her appointment.
In one event, Glenn Thomas Jacobs, also known as “Kane,” hit the new Education secretary with a tombstone piledriver that knocked her, apparently, unconscious on an episode of “Monday Night Raw” in the early 2000s.
In one of WWE’s more infamous sagas of the era, she was featured in a series of skits that saw her hit her children, Stephanie and Shane McMahon.
In some of those skits, her children hit back.
McMahon served on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year starting in 2009.
She told lawmakers at the time that she had a lifelong interest in education and once planned to become a teacher.
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She attempted two runs at the Senate as a Connecticut Republican, losing the 2010 race to Richard Blumenthal and the 2012 race to Chris Murphy.
McMahon then provided $6 million to help Trump’s candidacy after he secured the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.
McMahon served as administrator of the Small Business Administration under Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2019.
When she resigned, she wrote that the role had been “immensely rewarding.”
When McMahon was chosen for that role, she was praised by Blumenthal and Murphy, the two Connecticut Democrats who defeated her in Senate campaigns.
Blumenthal called her “a person of serious accomplishment and ability,” while Murphy said she was a “talented and experienced businessperson.”
McMahon then chaired America First Action, a super PAC that backed Trump’s re-election campaign in 2020.
When Trump lost to Biden, McMahon then helped start the America First Policy Institute to continue advocating for Trump’s agenda and prepare for a potential return to the White House.
When Trump ran for president this year, McMahon was the co-chair of his transition team along with Howard Lutnick, the chief executive of financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald.
As part of that role, McMahon has been helping to plan Trump’s new administration.
“As Secretary of Education, Linda will fight tirelessly to expand “Choice” to every State in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decision for families,” Trump said in a statement announcing her appointment.
