Less than 24 hours after she was announced as the nominee for Secretary of Education by President-elect Trump, Linda McMahon is widely considered a committed devotee to shutting down the department she was appointed to lead.
From political supporters in her native Connecticut, to small-government conservatives in Washington, D.C., long dedicated to closing the department with 4400 employees and a budget of $228 billion for Fiscal Year 2024, they weighed in strongly that McMahon is the nominee to end it all.
"She is an used to managing wrestlers, and I will bet on her when she wrestles with the teacher union bosses," Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), told Newsmax, recalling McMahon's years building up the World Wrestling Entertainment with husband Vince.
Norquist added McMahon is "principled and tough. She ran an agency for four years in Trump I [the Small Business Administration] and she will lead the charge in the most important fight of Trump I — school choice."
Norquist's words were strongly echoed by Connecticut GOP Chairman Ben Proto, who got to know McMahon well when she was their party's nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2010 and '12.
"Connecticut Republicans are so very proud that President Donald Trump has once again seen fit to nominate Linda McMahon to a position," Proto said. "Linda is an outstanding choice to lead President Trump's Department of Education. She will bring a fresh and conservative voice to the Department of Education while helping to ensure that resources are put directly into the classroom to promote student enhancement and not into the bureaucracy or union leadership pockets.
"Linda's business acumen, coupled with her compassion and experience, will ensure that students across America are receiving a first-class education. We know the swamp doesn't really care about our children and their futures, but Linda does, and we proudly support her."
Leslie Hiner, vice president of Legal Policy at the Ed Choice Legal Policy and Education Center, told us "unwinding the U.S. DoE will take time and patience — and will require a person with a hard shell and business sense. You can bet that the teachers' unions will be standing up with their hands out, as usual, ready to pounce on any effort that diminishes their control over education in any way.
"What I like about Linda McMahon is that she is a person with strong business experience. She's been successful, and she's failed, then she succeeded again.
"She's fought head-to-head against big-ego males, and she succeeded.
"She knows how to build and how to unwind business. She knows how to face relentless, ugly challenges straight up, face to face. As secretary, she will face this and more. And she undoubtedly has no interest in finding a job in education four years from now."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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