Trump chooses longtime ally Linda McMahon to run Education Department

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

67% : A close friend of Trump's and a longtime booster of his political career, McMahon had been among his early donors leading up to his electoral victory in 2016 and has been one of the leaders of his transition team, vetting other potential appointees and drafting potential executive orders since August.
62% : In 2013, WWE inducted Trump into its hall of fame.
51% : In his statement announcing the pick, Trump homed in on McMahon's work at the America First Policy Institute, which he said focused on encouraging universal school choice policies across the 12 states that have adopted them so far.
44% : And she would assume the role at a time when school districts across the country are facing budget shortfalls, many students are not making up ground lost during the pandemic in reading and math, and many colleges and universities are shrinking and closing amid a larger loss of faith in the value of higher education.
40% : In McMahon, 76, Trump has elevated someone far outside the mold of traditional candidates for the role, an executive with no teaching background or professional experience steering education policy, other than an appointment in 2009 to the Connecticut State Board of Education, where she served for just over a year.
39% : Those include stopping schools from "promoting inaccurate and unpatriotic concepts" about American history surrounding institutionalized racism, and expanding voucher programs that direct more public funds to parents to spend on home-schooling, online classes, or at private and religious schools.
37% : "We will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort," Trump said in a statement announcing the decision Tuesday.
35% : Since last year, Trump had reportedly complained in private that the America First Policy Institute, which filled out its ranks with former officials from his first term in office, owed him a portion of the money he said it had brought in by fundraising off its political associations with him.
32% : While Trump has repeatedly called for an outright dissolution of the agency, any effort to shutter it would require congressional action and support from some Republican lawmakers whose districts depend on federal aid for public education.
32% : The two had a fake feud in which Trump pretended to buy the franchise from Vince McMahon -- causing a real-life market upset for the company's stock -- then sell it back for twice the price.
29% : McMahon, 76, led the Small Business Administration during Trump's first term and resigned in 2019 without a public fallout or rift with Trump, who praised her at her departure as "one of our all-time favorites" and a "superstar."

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