During his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump has smeared educators who support the LGTBQ+ community, accusing them of being child predators. But this week he nominated Linda McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, to lead the Department of Education – even though she is charged with allowing the sexual abuse of children.
The court casefiled last month on behalf of five unnamed individuals, alleges that McMahon, along with her husband Vince McMahon, the president of World Wrestling Entertainment, and WWE’s parent company, TKO Holdings, knowingly and unknowingly targeted WWE announcer Mel Phillips Jr. ringside allowed to sexually abuse children between the 1970s and the 1990s.
McMahon is the latest of Trump’s administration picks to reportedly be involved in a sex abuse scandal.
Her appointment comes amid an ongoing Republican-led attack on the nation’s public schools, as well as the spread of baseless claims that legions of public school teachers are grooming and indoctrinating children.
Conservatives have claimed that books with LGBTQ+ themes are actually pornographic material, and that LGBTQ+ teachers, and teachers who support their LGBTQ+ students, are sexualizing children. They have declared themselves champions of “parental rights,” fought to ban books from classrooms and censor what teachers can say about sexual orientation and gender identity. It has become a defining issue for the Republican Party.
The court case The McMahons claim they knew Phillips was using his power as ringside crew chief to lure young boys to work with the promise of meeting famous wrestlers. According to the lawsuit, the so-called “ring boys” would be hired to perform tasks and errands to keep the wrestling production going. The lawsuit claims the McMahons knew about the abuse in the 1980s but allowed it to happen anyway. Philips died in 2012.
An attorney for the McMahons has denied the allegations in the lawsuit.
“More than 30 years ago, columnist Phil Mushnick tried to make headlines with the same false claims,” says Jessica Rosenberg. told NBC News last month, referring to a New York Post columnist who wrote about the allegations in the 1990s. “These allegations were never proven and ultimately became the subject of a defamation lawsuit against Mr. Mushnick. We will vigorously defend Mr. McMahon and are confident that the court will find these claims to be untrue and without merit.”
McMahon’s experience in education is limited at best. In 2009, then-Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell (R) appointed her to the state Board of Education. In a questionnaire for the role, McMahon reportedly lied about having a bachelor’s degree in education.
Still, Trump allies and conservative groups are voicing support for McMahon, including Tiffany Justice, the co-founder of Moms for Liberty, a far-right group that has been a leader in the right-wing war on public schools.
“Parent involvement is the most important driver of children’s success in school and I will help the new minister in every way I can to ensure that parents regain control over their child’s education,” Justice said in a statement.
“Linda faces a difficult task in the fight against the union’s deadly grip on the education industrial complex, but I have confidence in President Trump’s plans to enact sweeping changes that will empower parents and improve math and improve our children’s reading scores. she continued.
Project 2025, the conservative blueprint for a second Trump administration, calls for abolishing the Department of Education, which Trump also promised to do during his campaign. Instead, schools would be funded by local taxpayers and an expansion of voucher programs that use public money for private schools.
The drastic move would be political poison for both sides of the aisle, and is unlikely to happen. The threat to the department stems from Republicans’ insistence that DOE is “indoctrinating” children — but the agency is not responsible for setting school curricula. Key responsibilities include overseeing funding for low-income schools and resources for students with disabilities, and protecting students’ civil rights.
McMahon, if confirmed by the Senate, is likely to back the idea that the department has pursued a nefarious agenda. She headed Trump’s Small Business Administration during his first term before resigning to work on his re-election campaign. She also became president of the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank that laid out a framework for a second Trump term that would rival Project 2025.
Educators are already sounding the alarm about Trump’s choice to put McMahon at the helm of public education.
“By selecting Linda McMahon, Donald Trump is showing that he doesn’t care about the future of our students,” Becky Pringle, president of the National Educators Association, said in a statement. “Instead of working to strengthen public schools, expand learning opportunities for students, and support educators, McMahon’s sole mission is to eliminate the Department of Education and take taxpayer dollars away from public schools, where 90 % of students – and 95% of students with disabilities – learn, and attend, irresponsible and discriminatory private schools.”
