Linda McMahon, wrestling mogul, confirmed as U.S. education secretary.

Linda McMahon has been confirmed by the United States Senate as the country's next education secretary, entrusting the former wrestling mogul with a department that Donald Trump has promised to dismantle.

The 76-year-old millionaire businesswoman and lifelong Trump supporter was approved 51-45, indicating major disagreements about her qualifications and the administration's education policy.  McMahon, who previously managed the Small Business Administration during Trump's first term, is now faced with the contradictory task of administering an agency while attempting to eliminate it.

McMahon's appointment comes amid allegations that Trump is drafting an executive order asking her to reduce the department's activities to a bare minimum while lobbying Congress for its ultimate collapse. During the confirmation process, she supported this vision, declaring in her opening statement that she "wholeheartedly" supports Trump's mission to "return education to the states, where it belongs."

Critics have questioned McMahon's qualifications, citing her minimal educational background (a one-year tenure on Connecticut's state board of education and service as a trustee at Sacred Heart University) and a lack of traditional education policy or administration expertise.

However, the incoming education secretary currently chairs the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-aligned thinktank that houses many of the education department's senior-level nominees, indicating that McMahon will have ideological allies allowing her to implement sweeping changes with minimal internal resistance.

At her confirmation hearing, McMahon attempted to temper the administration's hard-line attitudes, promising to save important programs like Title I funding and Pell awards while conceding that only Congress had the right to abolish the department fully.

The new education secretary enters office as schools and colleges nationwide scurry to fulfill a deadline of February 28 to abolish diversity initiatives or risk losing federal funds.  The education department's advice document, released over the weekend, implies they will not back down from their strongly held anti-DEI attitude.  It also comes just days after the government introduced a DEI reporting platform to track nationwide diversity activities in public schools.

The Education Department, established by Congress in 1979 under former President Jimmy Carter, sends billions of dollars to K-12 schools yearly and controls a federal student loan portfolio worth around $1.6 trillion.  Federal monies account for around 14% of public school budgets nationally.

Trump's administration has already moved to revamp the department's operations, canceling dozens of contracts through Elon Musk's so-called "Department of Government Efficiency" (Doge) and dismantling the Institute of Education Sciences, which collects data on academic advancement.