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linda mcmahon
Critics Say 'History of Enabling Sexual Abuse' Makes McMahon Unfit for Top Education Post
"This is someone accused of ignoring rampant sexual abuse under her watch," said one advocate. "It's an insult to survivors and a blatant attack on the safety of students nationwide."
Nov 22, 2024
A group that combats sexual violence on campuses was among those speaking out on Friday against U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of former wrestling entertainment executive Linda McMahon for education secretary, warning that her own sexual abuse scandal makes her an "appalling" choice to lead the department tasked with protecting students from discrimination and violence.
Kenyora Parham, CEO of End Rape on Campus, said McMahon's "documented history of enabling sexual abuse of children and sweeping sexual violence under the rug" is "disqualifying" for a nominee to lead the Department of Education.
Parham was referring to a lawsuit that was filed in October by five anonymous plaintiffs in Maryland, which alleges that while McMahon was the CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in the 1980s, she and other executives enabled "open and rampant" grooming and sexual abuse of the company's teenaged "ring boys" by announcer Mel Phillips and others.
The lawsuit alleges that McMahon and her now-estranged husband, WWE co-founder Vince McMahon, knew that Phillips was recruiting boys as young as 12 to work as stagehands and then sexually exploiting them, sometimes in front of wrestlers and executives in the locker area. WWE wrestlers Pat Patterson and Terry Garvin are also named as abusers.
The plaintiffs said they were between the ages of 13-15 when they were abused, and that the McMahons were aware of the sexual exploitation. According to the lawsuit, Vince McMahon admitted the couple was aware of Phillips' "peculiar and unnatural interest" in young boys, and the McMahons fired him briefly in 1988 over allegations of sexual abuse.
They "rehired him six weeks later on the condition that he 'steer clear from kids,'" according to the lawsuit, but the exploitation continued.
Parham spoke out a day after she and other rights advocates celebrated the news that former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who Trump had nominated to be attorney general, was withdrawing from consideration amid allegations that he paid to have sex with a 17-year-old, which were the subject of an investigation by the House Ethics Committee.
"Now can we get Linda McMahon to withdraw her appointment as secretary of education, too?" said Parham on Thursday.
Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News host who Trump has nominated to be defense secretary, has also been accused of sexual assault, the details of which were revealed in a police report that was made public this week. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who Trump nominated to lead the Health and Human Services Department, has been accused by his children's former babysitter of sexual abuse.
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who Trump has named to run his Department of Government Efficiency, has been named in a lawsuit filed by former SpaceX employees who alleged sexual harassment at work. Trump himself was found liable last year for sexual abuse in a case filed by writer E. Jean Carroll.
Putting McMahon in charge of overseeing Title IX protections, which prohibits sex discrimination and sexual harassment and assault at schools that receive federal funding, "is like handing keys to an arsonist to run the fire department," said Caroline Ciccone, president of government watchdog Accountable.US.
"Donald Trump's nomination of Linda McMahon to lead the Department of Education is indefensible," said Ciccone. "This is someone accused of ignoring rampant sexual abuse under her watch... It's an insult to survivors and a blatant attack on the safety of students nationwide."
Trump chose McMahon to lead the Education Department after President Joe Biden expanded Title IX protections to cover discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. Trump has pledged to roll back the expanded policy, and has called for the entire department to be dismantled.
"McMahon and her colleagues were reportedly aware of abuse happening right under their noses—and they did nothing," Ciccone said. "Now she's been chosen to oversee, and likely overhaul, the very protections designed to stop this kind of harm? The Senate must put an end to this sham of a nomination. She lacks the experience, the judgment, and the track record to protect students from harm."
Parham said McMahon's nomination signals "a calculated agenda to dismantle the protections afforded by Title IX."
"Appointing someone with such a compromised background is a direct attack on these hard-won rights and threatens to leave countless students vulnerable," she said. "We urge policymakers and fellow advocates to unite against this nomination and demand accountability—to join us in this critical fight to uphold and strengthen the protections that every student deserves."
"It is imperative that leaders are appointed who will genuinely champion the safety and rights of every student," she added, "regardless of their identity and background."
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'Betsy DeVos 2.0': Trump Picks WWE Billionaire Linda McMahon to Lead Education Department
"During his first term, Donald Trump appointed Betsy DeVos to undermine and ultimately privatize public schools through vouchers," said the president of the National Education Association. "Now, he and Linda McMahon are back at it."
Nov 20, 2024
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced late Tuesday that he intends to nominate Linda McMahon, the billionaire former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, to lead the Department of Education, a key agency that Republicans—including Trump and the authors of Project 2025—have said they want to abolish.
McMahon served as head of the Small Business Administration during Trump's first White House term and later chaired both America First Action—a pro-Trump super PAC—and the America First Policy Institute, a far-right think tank that has expressed support for cutting federal education funding and expanding school privatization.
Trump touted McMahon's work to expand school "choice"—a euphemism for taxpayer-funded private school vouchers—and said she would continue those efforts on a national scale as head of the Education Department.
"We will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort," Trump said in a statement posted to his social media platform, Truth Social. (McMahon is listed as an independent director of Trump Media & Technology Group, which runs Truth Social.)
The National Education Association (NEA), a union that represents millions of teachers across the U.S., said in response to the president-elect's announcement that McMahon is "grossly unqualified" to lead the Education Department, noting that she has "lied about having a degree in education," presided over an organization "with a history of shady labor practices," and "pushed for an extreme agenda that would harm students, defund public schools, and privatize public schools through voucher schemes."
"During his first term, Donald Trump appointed Betsy DeVos to undermine and ultimately privatize public schools through vouchers," NEA president Becky Pringle said in a statement. "Now, he and Linda McMahon are back at it with their extreme Project 2025 proposal to eliminate the Department of Education, steal resources for our most vulnerable students, increase class sizes, cut job training programs, make higher education more expensive and out of reach for middle-class families, take away special education services for disabled students, and put student civil rights protections at risk."
"The Department of Education plays such a critical role in the success of each and every student in this country," Pringle continued. "The Senate must stand up for our students and reject Donald Trump's unqualified nominee, Linda McMahon. Our students and our nation deserve so much better than Betsy DeVos 2.0."
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, took a more diplomatic approach, saying in a statement that "we look forward to learning more about" McMahon and that, if she's confirmed, "we will reach out to her as we did with Betsy DeVos at the beginning of her tenure."
"While we expect that we will disagree with Linda McMahon on many issues, our devotion to kids requires us to work together on policies that can improve the lives of students, their families, their educators, and their communities," Weingarten added.
McMahon is one of several billionaires Trump has selected for major posts in his incoming administration, which is teeming with conflicts of interest. During Trump's first term, McMahon and her husband, Vince McMahon, made at least $100 million from dividends, investment interest, and stock and bond sales.
The Guardiannoted Tuesday that "in October, [Linda] McMahon was named in a new lawsuit involving WWE."
"The suit alleges that she and other leaders of the company allowed the sexual abuse of young boys at the hands of a ringside announcer, former WWE ring crew chief Melvin Phillips Jr," the newspaper reported. "The complaint specifically alleges that the McMahons knew about the abuse and failed to stop it."
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'The Other Project 2025': The Lesser-Known Blueprint for Trump 2.0
A relatively new think tank "filled with Trump loyalists and insiders" has tried to avoid "the kind of firestorm that has engulfed the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025" while crafting its competing agenda.
Aug 29, 2024
While critics of former U.S. President Donald Trump continue to sound the alarm over Project 2025 and its potential implementation if the Republican nominee returns to the White House, a rival right-wing policy agenda has received far less national attention.
The well-publicized initiative, officially called the 2025 Presidential Transition Project, includes personnel recruitment, training, a 180-day playbook, and a policy agenda that is over 900 pages. Project 2025 is spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, which has been locked in a "shadow war" with the America First Policy Institute (AFPI).
The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) last year released a robust takedown of Project 2025, calling it a "far-right playbook for American authoritarianism." Since then, the group has published periodic updates about the Heritage-led effort to influence the policy and government employees under the next GOP president.
Wednesday's edition has a section on AFPI—or as GPAHE called it, "the Other Project 2025."
"Founded in 2021 by former Trump administration officials Linda McMahon, Larry Kudlow, and Brooke Rollins, AFPI has positioned itself as a formidable rival to the long-established Heritage Foundation, creating a notable divide in conservative policymaking spheres," GPAHE explained. "This conflict stems from both ideological differences and personal rivalries."
Although Heritage has been around for over half a century, GPAHE continued, "it has become a hub for younger, more ardent supporters of the MAGA movement," while "AFPI is generally seen as more sympathetic to the pre-Trump conservative consensus."
As Democrats—including the party's presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz—have campaigned against Project 2025, Trump has tried to distance himself from it, even though at least 140 people who worked in his first administration, including six former Cabinet secretaries, have been involved with the project.
So far, AFPI, a nonprofit that does not disclose its donors and cannot endorse political candidates, "has sought to avoid public attention—or the kind of firestorm that has engulfed the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025," Politicoreported Thursday. However, like the widely known initiative, the more covert one has clear ties to Trump.
AFPI is "filled with Trump loyalists and insiders" and "was blessed by Trump before it was founded in 2021," according to Politico. While the think tank said in a statement that it "does not speak on behalf of any officeholder or campaign," the outlet pointed out that "Trump has hosted fundraisers for AFPI at his Mar-a-Lago club, his PAC Save America donated to the group, and his first major speech in Washington since leaving the White House was at an AFPI event."
Additionally, Politico noted, "its CEO, Brooke Rollins, has had a close relationship with Trump for years and has discussed the think tank's transition plans with him, according to two people familiar with the meeting; this month, the former president named the group's board chair, Linda McMahon, to co-lead the official transition team."
Other key leaders on Trump's transition team include his running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio); his eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump; former Hawaii Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard; and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a conspiracy theorist who just suspended his Independent White House run and endorsed the GOP nominee.
"AFPI is not becoming the transition," an unnamed source reportedly familiar with the Trump campaign's transition prep told Politico. "But by virtue of how they are situated and that we are in a very late timeline for this work, AFPI and the transition may be a distinction without a difference."
GPAHE highlighted that while the rivals have some "differing approaches to key issues like economic policy, foreign relations, and the role of government," there is also overlap. Specifically, the group detailed, "AFPI's policy document, while more concise at 250 pages compared to Project 2025's 900 pages, outlines similar priorities in energy and environmental policy."
One analysis from earlier this month shows that if the Project 2025 energy policies were imposed, climate-wrecking pollution would surge 2.7 billion metric tons by 2030 and cause there to be 1.7 million fewer jobs in that year, compared to the current trajectory. There have also been scathing critiques of its education, healthcare, immigration, and tax policies—other areas where there are some similarities with AFPI.
The AFPI agenda, as Politico summarized, "focuses on deregulation of the federal government, greater rights for religious groups, and an aggressive crackdown on crime, among other issues. It supports greater oil and gas production, the completion of the border wall, and the limitation of federal spending. It has also expressed support for declaring Antifa a domestic terrorist group and making Trump's tax cut legislation permanent."
Trump and Republican lawmakers have openly campaigned on extending reductions from their Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 if elected in November—even though the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said in May that doing so would add $4.6 trillion to the national deficit.
In response to the CBO findings, Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said that "the Republican tax plan is to double down on Trump's handouts to corporations and the wealthy, run the deficit into the stratosphere, and make it impossible to save Medicare and Social Security or help families with the cost of living in America."
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