This week, Donald Trump nominated Linda McMahon for Secretary of Education, a department he wants to eliminate. McMahon is the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, and she’s been a consistent supporter of Trump and Trumpism for years. She’s hyper-conservative and she absolutely wants to turn the Department of Education into a huge voucher program. But of course there are other problems. What’s weird is that even though credibly accused rapists like Pete Hedseth and Matt Gaetz are taking up so much space, people are still like “wow, Linda McMahon is problematic.” First of all, she lied about her education:
On Jan. 9, 2009, Linda McMahon filled out a vetting questionnaire to serve on the state board of education in Connecticut.
On it, she indicated she earned a bachelor’s degree in education, according to a copy of the original form the governor’s office provided to USA TODAY.
She did not.
McMahon, a billionaire and wrestling executive who graduated from East Carolina University in 1969, actually has a bachelor’s degree in French, the school confirmed to USA TODAY Wednesday. Although her academic program at the time was designed to prepare teachers for instruction, the school said, McMahon does not have a degree in education.
This is such a normal scandal, I almost felt relieved. This is the normal kind of confirmation scandal – someone lied on their CV years ago or claimed to have a degree they do not have. If this was the only thing, McMahon would be confirmed with flying colors. Except that McMahon now has her own sex scandal(s).
Former WWE CEO Linda McMahon left the spectacle of televised wrestling more than a decade ago, but her new appointment to Donald Trump‘s administration has brought fresh scrutiny to her time presiding over the testosterone-charged industry. McMahon on Tuesday was tapped to lead the Department of Education as she and her husband, the embattled Vince McMahon, are embroiled in a sex scandal, something of a developing trend in the second Trump administration.
Last month, a group of five former “ring boys” named the McMahons in a sex abuse lawsuit along with World Wrestling Entertainment and its parent company, TKO Group. The John Does alleged that from the 1970s to the 1990s, former WWE announcer Melvin Phillips Jr. groomed and sexually assaulted them and other minors, without any consequences from his employer.
What’s more, they claimed the McMahons—in their capacity as chief WWE executives—specifically knew about and ignored Philips’s predation. His “peculiar and unnatural interest” in young boys prompted the couple to fire Phillips in 1988, the lawsuit says; they quickly reinstated him on the condition he “steer clear from kids,” which he didn’t.
Linda’s lawyer, Laura Brevetti, called the lawsuit’s complaints “baseless” and said the McMahons were separated.
In addition to the ring boys‘ lawsuit, Vince is the subject of a federal investigation probing undisclosed multi-million-dollar payments he made to settle sexual misconduct and even rape complaints during his tenure at WWE. A former WWE employee has also accused McMahon of sexual coercion and assault, and of trafficking her to other men.
Ah, this is more on brand for the second Trump administration. Decades of covering up sexual abuse, rape, child abuse. See, she’s only being accused of knowingly covering up the abuse, not perpetrating it. Which is why she’ll probably breeze through the confirmation process, right?
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.