When Linda McMahon was building World Wrestling Entertainment into a multibillion-dollar enterprise, a colleague remembers, she confided that there were two things she’d never do: get into the ring and go into politics. Her husband, Vince McMahon, was the creative visionary behind W.W.E, while Linda managed the business. Eventually, she found a role in Vince’s storyline, playing the part of a wife who was cheated on and humiliated by her husband. Her in-ring marriage bore certain similarities to her real one: Vince was a serial philanderer, and has been accused of assault (which he denies).
The circus atmosphere of W.W.E was good preparation for politics. McMahon, who is the Secretary of Education, is one of only three members of Donald Trump’s original Cabinet to survive to his second term. This time, as Trump has assembled a Cabinet that is more openly obsequious and destructive, “McMahon has played the role of a friendly grandmother wielding a hatchet,” Zach Helfand writes. Helfand Profiles the Secretary of Education, whose mission is to kill her department and put herself out of a job: www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/04/27/lind...
