Why McMahon isn’t DeVos 2.0 (opinion)

President-elect Donald Trump lately introduced Linda McMahon as his decide to go the Division of Training—a division he has overtly talked about eliminating. Regardless of Linda McMahon’s decades-long friendship with Trump and having served in each his former administration and re-election efforts, to say that pundits and teachers had been typically stunned by this announcement can be an understatement.

Some current commentary has drawn comparisons between McMahon and Trump’s earlier decide for secretary of training, Betsy DeVos, noting their extraordinary wealth and lack of direct expertise in training or federal academic coverage. Nonetheless, I imagine these parallels could possibly be misguided, notably relating to assumptions about how McMahon will handle the Training Division.

McMahon and DeVos each belong to the billionaire class, however the paths they took to attain this standing are vastly totally different. DeVos inherited her wealth, because the daughter of Edgar Prince, who made his fortune partially by way of auto elements manufacturing. She attended Calvin College, an elite non-public Christian establishment, and married Dick DeVos, one other inheritor to substantial wealth. In distinction, McMahon was born right into a middle-class household and attended East Carolina College, a regional public establishment, constructing her fortune from the bottom up.

After faculty, Linda supported her husband, Vince McMahon, in his profitable quest to buy the WWF from his father (now WWE, World Wrestling Leisure). Linda not solely supported Vince in constructing the corporate right into a multibillion-dollar enterprise however co-led its development, conscious that failure would imply monetary damage. Whereas it’s unclear if their roles had been fully equal, many credit score Linda with independently managing key company operations, making her a pivotal determine in WWE’s success. Collectively, the pair dominated the wrestling business all through the Eighties and Nineteen Nineties, eliminating opponents. Even immediately, no model has emerged as a real rival to the WWE.

Given McMahon’s background, it’s misguided to imagine she would method the position of secretary of training in the identical method as DeVos. Linda McMahon emerged as one among two dominant leaders within the extremely aggressive and cutthroat world {of professional} wrestling. Below her management at WWE, the corporate aggressively opposed unionization, managed wrestlers’ conduct and restricted their means to earn exterior earnings regardless of classifying them as unbiased contractors (which additionally restricted their entry to advantages), and ultimately it grew into an alleged monopoly. Moreover, the McMahons managed to beat federal drug distribution costs in opposition to Vince associated to supplying steroids to expertise—a uncommon and notable authorized victory as Vince was acquitted by a jury. As has been broadly reported in current weeks, a civil lawsuit accuses the McMahons of knowingly enabling the sexual assault of kids by a WWE worker as early because the Eighties, allegations that the McMahons deny.

Not like DeVos, who inherited generational wealth, McMahon needed to struggle and work her strategy to construct her fortune. Moreover, McMahon’s ascent to important political prominence appears carefully, if not fully, linked to Trump’s success. In distinction, DeVos has been an influential determine within the Republican Get together for many years, unbiased of Trump’s rise.

Beforehand, McMahon made two unsuccessful U.S. Senate bids and briefly served on the Connecticut Board of Training earlier than resigning after a few yr. She got here below criticism for misrepresenting her credentials on a vetting questionnaire for that position. McMahon’s first significant political appointment got here throughout Trump’s administration, when she served because the administrator of the Small Enterprise Administration.

After Trump’s defeat in 2020, Linda McMahon grew to become the chair of the America First Coverage Institute, a task the place comparisons to DeVos are extra justifiable. AFPI advocates for a voucher system in Ok-12 training and seeks to introduce Christian-based parts into colleges. In larger training, its targets align with the Heritage Basis’s Venture 2025, together with reforming the scholar mortgage system (probably decreasing entry for the neediest college students), selling profession and technical training, and opposing current Title IX and variety initiatives—positions just like these beforehand championed by DeVos. McMahon has shared little publicly about her personal coverage intentions: Her management of AFPI affords some perception into her potential priorities, although conclusions stay speculative.

Whereas McMahon and DeVos might share related coverage targets, I imagine McMahon would method working the Training Division fairly otherwise. Though the Trump administration might face congressional resistance in its efforts to dismantle ED, McMahon could possibly be an efficient instrument for weakening elements of the division that battle with the administration’s priorities whereas advancing its favored insurance policies.

Drawing on her management expertise at WWE, McMahon would possible undertake a extra strategic and aggressive administration model in comparison with DeVos. As an example, whereas outright firing unionized workers could also be troublesome, creating environments that result in voluntary departures could possibly be a better tactic in eradicating nonloyalists. These methods would mirror classes from WWE, the place, as a long-tenured government, she performed a pivotal position in suppressing union efforts and adopting insurance policies that prioritized management over wrestlers’ pursuits.

Moreover, McMahon is more likely to lead with a extra subdued public profile in comparison with DeVos, as evidenced by her quieter method throughout her tenure within the first Trump administration. In essence, whereas the general public will pay attention to main coverage shifts, the subtler modifications affecting college students, households and academic establishments might solely grow to be obvious over time.

One regarding similarity, nevertheless, is the probability of disregarding courtroom mandates requiring compliance with varied legal guidelines. Together with her background in a cutthroat, allegedly monopolistic enterprise, and a sitting president detached to such issues, Linda McMahon might really feel little incentive to stick to authorized constraints.

In abstract, whereas McMahon might share some coverage targets with DeVos, her distinct background and expertise recommend she is going to possible take a distinct method to main the Division of Training. Together with her management model formed by the aggressive world {of professional} wrestling, McMahon could possibly be a extra strategic, decided and ruthless drive in reshaping the division. Whereas her coverage targets might align with DeVos’s, McMahon’s management might contain a extra aggressive pursuit of her goals. As secretary of training, McMahon’s choices will possible mirror each her ingrained company instincts and her shut ties to Trump, which might make her management of ED distinctive in comparison with DeVos and probably extra impactful.