A Republican Guide to Putting Yourself Out of a Job
Over the course of the next four years, Linda McMahon will be tasked with the paradoxical objective of firing herself.
Trump’s cabinet appointments are each so distinctly unqualified and unfit for their positions that somehow nominating WWE co-founder Linda McMahon as Secretary of Education still managed to fall into the peripheral vision of the media. On one hand, the Department of Education has little influence on public schooling as it is and serves mostly as a research entity and arbiter of parity. It makes sense that the secretary position is not particularly high-profile. On the other hand, McMahon is going to serve as a secretary with the peculiar goal of eliminating the very position she is being nominated to fill. Upon her confirmation, she will exist as a physical manifestation of all the inherent contradictions that run rampant through this administration.
Project 2025’s section on the DoE, authored by Lindsey Burke, Director of the Center for Education Policy at the Heritage Foundation, makes light of the fact that the agency is to be abolished upon the completion of the liquidation of its offices. Some will be rid of entirely, while others, like FAFSA and FSA, will be moved elsewhere. At the forefront of this quashing is, of course, the expansion of school voucher programs and a set of six other core principles1 that McMahon will oversee over the course of this term. However, in a series of convenient coincidences, McMahon does not currently have any real knowledge of the specifics regarding Project 2025’s implementation or what dismantling the DoE looks like in practice. All she knows is that, “It’s [the DoE] not working.”
McMahon’s hearing was a mostly mundane affair. We did not get the same fireworks seen at RFK’s hearing, nor did we get an unrelenting interrogation like with Pete Hegseth or Russell Vought. Instead, McMahon faced a Senate that, while contentious, already sees the writing on the wall. We are barely a month into this administration, and tens of thousands of federal workers have already been laid off or bought out. Public displays of willful ignorance to the game plan of your benefactors are not exclusive to McMahon, but it was clear in her testimony that no matter what she said about protecting IDEA, Title I, or civil rights, the plan that Project 2025 has laid out is already being put into place. Linda McMahon has been nominated to simply oversee its execution.
In 2009, Linda McMahon was appointed to the Connecticut State Board of Education by then Governor Jodi Rell. Her qualifications would come into question even back then, with the only basis for her nomination coming in the form of her education degree from East Carolina University and a desire to become a teacher. It would later be discovered that she actually lied about her degree, majoring in French, not education, so really her only qualification was that she wanted to be a teacher at some point. McMahon would only serve on the board for less than a year, ultimately resigning to pursue her next political venture.
McMahon’s foray into politics may predate Trump’s 2016 victory, but her electoral history bears a striking resemblance to other Trump-endorsed MAGA ghouls over the last 10 years: she loses. Not just once, but twice, and neither were close. McMahon first ran for US Senate in the state of Connecticut in 2010 and then again in 2012, losing to both current Senators from the state, Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal. By and large both of her campaigns were lost on aesthetics not policy. Despite running as an outsider with anti-establishment, populist rhetoric, McMahon could not capitalize on her wealth and business success in the same way Trump has been able to. Connecticut is a blue state through and through, but even in the Republican primaries she faced criticisms from opponents like former US congressman Rob Simmons for “buying the election.” McMahon would eventually find a home as administrator for the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term, until finally ending up here as the nominee for Secretary of Education.
I can’t help but feel like McMahon got into politics because she was bored. Like when your retired parent joins a book club or picks up shifts at the library so they have something to do. The obvious big difference being your mom actually wants to help kids find The Lorax on the shelf, whereas Linda McMahon is looking for passive income. McMahon approaches politics with the same blatant and arrogant contempt for government as Trump, Musk, or any other billionaire. The uber wealthy have managed to turn large scale assaults on government and public trust into a side hustle. What better way to demonstrate this contempt than to take a job only to fire yourself? Linda McMahon can afford to oversee the dissolution of the DoE much like a CEO can afford to lay off thousands of employees because, in the end, they’ll make it out okay. Trump’s cabinet and inner circle are filled with CEOs and executives who live in a reality in which business and government are constantly at odds. If businesses are good at anything, it’s selling you shit. The dismantling of the DoE is the result of a multi-generational effort to sell the American people on the inadequacies of government. As an added layer of richness, McMahon’s hiring and self-firing acts as a comically large middle finger in the face of mass layoffs across the federal government.
This past week, DOGE eliminated over $800 million worth of federal contracts at the Institute for Education Sciences within the DoE. The contracts in question were terminated without any regard for what they are composed of and have upended decades worth of important education research. It cannot be stressed enough that DOGE is currently undergoing a sweeping misinformation campaign about what constitutes waste within the government. Much of the $880 million total that was canceled has already been paid out! It’s so disingenuous and deceitful it warrants an entire discussion on its own, but that same spitefulness has now made its way into the DoE.
Among the multitude of studies that were cancelled was the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, which provides crucial data on how American 4th and 8th grade student performance compares to other countries. The data has been collected and presented in 4-year cycles since 1995 and now, in the middle of the school year and a current cycle, has been thrown away. 4th and 8th grade test scores act as a key data point in K-12 learning, and don’t just serve as records for tracking purposes. The TIMSS study and others just like it are used to make informative policy decisions that address critical areas of need. Now, whether or not those policy decisions are implemented is something I’ve discussed extensively, but it’s worth reiterating that the charlatans letting Elon parade around Washington and confirming nominees like McMahon are the same ones impeding any sort of progress in American education.
The second sentence in the DoE section of Project 2025 reads, “When power is exercised, it should empower students and families, not government.” It’s the kind of rhetoric that works perfectly in tandem with how Republicans portray themselves when they’re out of power. When they’re in power, as they are now, and acting on it, Lindsey Burke actually manages to give the game away. What Trump, DOGE, and soon enough Linda McMahon are doing to the federal government right now is unequivocally illegal. Congress determines how the money is spent, and Congress has the authority to abolish the Department of Education. Power of the purse and separation of powers are taught in middle school-level government cirriculum. If children are learning stuff like that in middle school, it may start making a bit more sense as to why Republicans want to dismantle education.