Mary Ellen Klas, Columnist

The GOP Is Obsessed With DEI in Schools. What About the ABCs?

Linda McMahon, Trump’s appointee to the Department of Education, showed at her confirmation hearing that she’d prioritize culture wars over learning.

February 15, 2025 at 1:00 PM UTC

By Mary Ellen Klas

Mary Ellen Klas is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. A former capital bureau chief for the Miami Herald, she has covered politics and government for more than three decades.

She’s ready to rumble.
Photographer: Win McNamee/Getty Images

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Linda McMahon’s nomination to head the Department of Education has always seemed incongruous. But after watching her Senate confirmation hearing Thursday, I now see why President Donald Trump would appoint the co-founder and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. Like WWE itself, with its choreographed athletic feats and staged conflict, the president’s commitment to America’s school children is pure performance art.

Trump says he is “dedicated to ensuring every child has the opportunity to receive a world-class education.” He wants to do that by expanding universal school vouchers, attacking a phantom he calls “radical indoctrination in K-12 schooling,” dismantling the $238 billion education department and sending federal funds directly to states.