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national education association
'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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Biden Endorsements on the Line as Outrage Over Gaza Grows
"You need to listen," said the head of one group that revoked a primary endorsement. "Because we are the ones who will go out and knock on doors, we are the ones who will do phone banks for swing states."
Jan 23, 2024
U.S. President Joe Biden's refusal to do all he can to stop Israel's war on the Gaza Strip has consequences for not only Palestinian civilians in the besieged enclave but also this year's presidential contest in which the Democrat is seeking reelection.
Multiple polls over the past couple of months have shown Biden's approval rating at all-time lows, partly related to how he has handled Israel killing nearly 25,500 people in Gaza—as of Tuesday—in response to the Hamas-led attack on October 7.
Biden last month called out Israel's "indiscriminate bombing" of Gaza and said that "I want them to be focused on how to save civilian lives," but he has also bypassed Congress to arm Israeli forces while asking lawmakers for a $14.3 billion package on top of the United States' $3.8 billion in annual military aid to its Middle East ally.
The president isn't on New Hampshire's Tuesday primary ballot because of a fight between state leaders and the Democratic National Committee, but some Biden supporters are calling on voters to write in his name. Critics of U.S. support for Israel's assault on Gaza are urging voters to send him a message by writing in "cease-fire."
Biden's longshot primary challengers—Marianne Williamson, who notably supports a cease-fire in Gaza, and Congressman Dean Phillips (D-Minn.)—are on New Hampshire's ballot. On the Republican side, former President Donald Trump, the leading candidate despite his legal trouble, is expected to win the GOP primary in the state.
On the eve of the New Hampshire vote, a prominent group in California—where the primary is March 5, or Super Tuesday—announced its members "overwhelmingly voted" to rescind an endorsement of Biden from October due to "widespread outrage and international indignation over the president's handling of the Israel-Gaza conflict."
"Focused on the crisis in Gaza, we condemn President Biden's misguided and perilous actions, and inaction, which undermine the long-term interests of both Israelis and Palestinians," the San Francisco-based Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club said Monday. "While our stance doesn't extend to the November 2024 general elections, we aim to send a powerful signal to President Biden and the Democratic establishment that our base demands to be heard."
The club's president, Jeffrey Kwong, told the San Francisco Chronicle that "yes, this is a precarious time" for the United States, but "this humanitarian crisis has been in our hearts and minds," and rescinding the endorsement is a clear message to Biden.
"We're the rank and file, we're one of the largest Democratic clubs in the state, and you need to listen," Kwong said. "Because we are the ones who will go out and knock on doors, we are the ones who will do phone banks for swing states."
The San Francisco club isn't alone in reconsidering a Biden endorsement. With 3 million members, the National Education Association (NEA) is the largest union in the country, and it endorsed Biden in April—followed by various key labor groups last year.
Now, some rank-and-file members want the NEA to revoke the teachers union's endorsement of Biden until he fights for a permanent cease-fire; stops sending military support to Israel; and uses diplomatic pressure to secure the release of all political prisoners and hostages as well as end Israel's blockade of Gaza, settlement activity in the West Bank, and killing of journalists.
A petition from NEA members behind this push also calls on Biden to commit to demanding that Israel complies with international law and universal principles of human rights as well as fair due process for asylum-seekers and refugees that follows international law.
As Sarah Lazare reported Monday for The Nation and Workday Magazine:
The organizing effort to rescind this endorsement is just getting started, and it's too soon to know what base of support it has. But its backers point to momentum they have already achieved: This same group of members successfully pressed 19 local, state, and regional bodies of the NEA to call for a cease-fire in Gaza, including the National Council of Urban Education Associations, a caucus comprised of 251 large NEA locals and UniServ Councils, which are associations of several locals. And the members behind these resolutions claim credit for NEA President Rebecca Pringle's December 8, 2023, tweet in support of a cease-fire. "With the end of the temporary truce," she wrote, "the need for a cease-fire in Gaza is growing."
And there are at least some supporters of the presidential un-endorsement in NEA's board of directors. Among them is Aaron Phillips, a 41-year-old fifth grade teacher and NEA board member from Amarillo, Texas. "There's a growing group of board members that support it," he said, referring to the effort to revoke the presidential endorsement. "If I were to make a motion, I'm confident I would have a second and would have a growing group of board members stand with me."
After the NEA, the nation's second-largest union is the Service Employees International Union, with nearly 2 million members. The SEIU on Monday became the biggest union in the country to call for a cease-fire in Gaza. The SEIU's lengthy statement advocated action by "elected leaders" but did not mention U.S. support for Israel or the union's April endorsement of Biden.
The SIEU joined a growing labor coalition that also includes the United Auto Workers—which has about 400,000 active members and more than 580,000 retired members and was the previously the largest union to call for a Gaza cease-fire. During a Monday speech at an ongoing conference, UAW president Shawn Fain reiterated the union's position as the crowd chanted "cease-fire now!"
The UAW hasn't yet endorsed Biden for 2024, but he courted union members by historically joining striking workers on the picket line last year before they finalized contracts with the Big Three automakers in Michigan, a swing state with significant Arab and Muslim populations—including U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian American in Congress.
Fain on Monday criticized Trump, telling reporters that he is "pretty much contrary to everything we stand for," without backing Biden. However, the UAW confirmed on Tuesday that the president is set to address union members at the conference in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, fueling speculation of a forthcoming endorsement.
Daniel Werst, an Indiana-based teacher, former carpenter, and long-term socialist, argued in Left Voice Tuesday that the union endorsement of Biden "would be a betrayal of all of the rank-and-file members who supported the call for a cease-fire. Instead of endorsing bourgeois candidates, the UAW needs to assert its independence from both parties of capital, and work to organize a real resistance to the war on Gaza."
"The UAW should not only call for an end to the war, but it should also oppose U.S. arming of Israel," Werst added. "Autoworkers and all workers need an anti-imperialist and pro-Palestinian movement that brings us into independent, working-class political action—not an official endorsement for Biden, who has forced Palestinians born into a ghetto to live in tents without access to doctors, food, or anesthetic in a war of David and Goliath."
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Poll Confirms Supreme Court Reform Is 'Surefire Political Winner'
The belief that Supreme Court justices "should not be held accountable or even disclose lavish gifts from wealthy benefactors is an affront to the nation they were chosen to serve," said one lawmaker.
Jul 19, 2023
As the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee prepared to mark up legislation aimed at reining in the Supreme Court, on which the nation's nine top justices are not required to abide by a code of ethics, a new survey released Wednesday suggested that supporting such a proposal would help rather than harm a political candidate.
In a poll commissioned by court reform group Demand Justice, YouGov found that 59% of Americans are less likely to support a congressional candidate who opposes ethics reform at the Supreme Court.
More than three months after ProPublica first reported on previously undisclosed gifts right-wing Justice Clarence Thomas received from GOP megadonor Harlan Crow—a revelation that was followed by other news of alleged ethical breaches by Justices Neil Gorsuch, Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett, and John Roberts—the new poll found that a candidate who opposes requiring the Supreme Court to follow a binding code of ethics would have the support of just 23% of respondents.
The poll was released as Senate Republicans signaled that they won't support the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency (SCERT) Act, which was introduced by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told The New York Times this week that the Supreme Court is "accustomed to dealing with these issues on their own."
Despite Republican opposition, said Demand Justice, Democrats' case will only be bolstered by proceeding with the bill markup and forcing the GOP to vote on the SCERT Act.
"Defending blatant corruption is always a losing proposition in politics, and Republicans have backed themselves into a corner by opposing ethics reform in order to give cover to the likes of Clarence Thomas," said Brian Fallon, executive director of Demand Justice. "Senate Democrats should feel confident in bringing this bill to the floor of the full Senate even if it may lack the votes. Passing the bill would obviously be ideal, but short of that, exposing the Republicans on this issue is a surefire political winner for Democrats."
In addition to requiring the justices to follow a binding code of conduct—as other federal judges do—the SCERT Act would create a system for investigating alleged ethics violations; improve disclosure and transparency rules when a justice has connection to a party that has business before the court, including those that file amicus briefs; and require justices to publicly explain their decisions regarding recusal from certain cases.
Despite several of the court's right-wing justices having accepted financial gifts from and completed real estate transactions with conservative groups and operatives with business before the Supreme Court, they have not recused themselves from the cases in question.
The court's recent overturning of "longstanding decisions" including Roe v. Wade is "especially alarming in light of the reported conflicts of interest and failures to disclose financial transactions as required by law," said Marc Egan, director of government relations for the National Education Association, in a letter to the judiciary committee regarding the markup.
"This behavior is unethical, unacceptable, and undermines the promise engraved above the entrance to the Supreme Court: Equal justice under law," wrote Egan. "As the Code of Conduct for United States judges, which applies to lower federal court judges, states, 'A judge must avoid all impropriety and appearance of impropriety.'"
Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined Whitehouse last week in announcing the bill markup planned for Thursday, rejecting Republican claims that court reform is a "radical or partisan notion."
"Whether you agree or disagree with the most recent historic decisions by the Supreme Court, we hope we can all agree on one thing—these nine justices have extraordinary powers under our constitution," said Durbin and Whitehouse. "The belief that they should not be held accountable or even disclose lavish gifts from wealthy benefactors is an affront to the nation they were chosen to serve."
"Since the court won't act," they added, "Congress will."
Demand Justice's poll was released as a separate survey by Data for Progress found that 62% of Americans believe the court is increasingly corrupted and has a legitimacy crisis, including large majorities or Democrats and Independents and more than 40% of Republicans.
"Senate Democrats are right to advance Supreme Court ethics legislation because Americans overwhelmingly view this court as corrupt and facing a legitimacy crisis," said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Institute, which joined Data for Progress in conducting the poll. "Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito took money from billionaires and then did their bidding—trampling on the freedoms of women, workers, and all Americans. We hope Republican leaders join Democrats in supporting Supreme Court ethics."
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