Linda McMahon confirmed as Secretary of Education

One of the nominees that we expected to see resistance for Trump’s cabinet has just been confirmed.

Linda McMahon, the wife of wrestling magnate Vince McMahon, made it through a vote along party lines.

She passed 51-45, with a handful of Senators not present or not voting for her confirmation.

She’s In

If you have been reading my reports on Trump’s cabinet nominees, you know I had tagged McMahon as someone who could need the Vance tiebreaker vote.

This is because McMahon, to be blunt, is not qualified to be the Secretary of Education. Well, that is if she was actually going to run the department instead of dismantling it.

McMahon’s education experience is limited to a few months on a local school board, which she left for a run for office (she could not be on the board and fundraise at the same time).

McMahon has openly supported Donald Trump’s quest to dismantle the department, something the GOP has been trying to do dating back to the Reagan administration.

While it is unlikely they will be able to kill the department, McMahon can gut it to the point it is just a mere shell.

Now, she was also clear that Trump does not want to cut educational funding, but he does want the states to control it rather than the federal government.

When McMahon was asked about this, she responded, "It is not the president's goal to defund the programs. It was only to have it operate more efficiently.”

I think that is something the White House has done a rather poor job communicating.

And to be clear, I support his happening, as I believe education in this country has gotten worse with the leadership of the federal government, not better, but I think Trump needs to make his actual plans very clear to avoid giving the Democrats more talking points to be used against him.

I was actually surprised McMahon made it through with such a big cushion, as I was certain she would do no better than 50-50, needing the Vance vote to get her approved.

She clearly impressed a few people who were pushing back against her on the right side of the aisle, so I commend her on that.

Our educational system has been taking backward steps for years, and it is embarrassing how far we are falling behind other nations, especially in essential educational skills.

Send it back to the states, let them set their guidelines, and have the Department of Education hold them accountable.

Now that McMahon has been approved, I would suspect it will not be long before we see her shaking some trees to create liberal and Democrat outrage.