American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten told Newsmax on Monday that a tweet by Linda McMahon has her encouraged about President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for education secretary.
The tweet that caught Weingarten’s eye was posted last Tuesday.
“Apprenticeship Programs are a pathway to successful careers. Switzerland provides a model the rest of the world can adapt. They employ Apprentices in 230 Occupations and most of their CEOs were Apprentices,” McMahon said in the post to X.
“One of the reasons that we reserved judgment — I know that surprised people about Linda McMahon and I don’t know her — is because the tweet right before she was picked was about Switzerland,” Weingarten said on “The Record With Greta Van Susteren.”
“And Switzerland has some of the best workplace and workforce pathways that I’ve seen in the world,” Weingarten added.
The AFT president said she has been leading the fight for colleges not simply to focus on “college prep” because “60% of our kids who graduate from high school don’t go to college.”
She noted that both President Joe Biden and Trump have talked about vocational education that offers “pathways to jobs.”
“And I’m going take her at her word that she really wants to do this stuff,” Weingarten told Van Susteren.
With close to 2 million members, the AFT is the second-largest teacher’s union in the nation representing educators in big cities like New York and Chicago. Under Weingarten’s leadership, the union is considered the most influential in public policy matters.
Weingarten said she’s also open to Van Susteren’s offer to get her in a room with McMahon without staff or aides for a private conversation.
“So, Greta, why don’t you make that happen? I would do it anytime,” Weingarten said.
McMahon was nominated earlier this month to be secretary of education. She previously served as chief of the Small Business Administration in Trump's first term.
McMahon co-founded WWE with her husband Vince McMahon, making it into a multibillion dollar entertainment giant.
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Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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