Celebrity TV Doctor Selected to Lead Medicaid
Donald Trump has nominated Linda McMahon, co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and his former transition co-chair, to serve as Secretary of Education. A long-time ally of Trump, McMahon previously headed the Small Business Administration during his first term and was a significant donor to his presidential campaigns.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump stated that McMahon would leverage her decades of leadership experience and her deep knowledge of both education and business to "empower the next generation of American students and workers."
Trump, who has been critical of the Department of Education and has pledged to dismantle it, could assign McMahon the task of fulfilling that promise.
Her nomination follows Trump’s selection of Mehmet Oz, a celebrity doctor and former TV host, to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as well as Howard Lutnick for Commerce Secretary. These picks continue Trump's trend of appointing loyal supporters to key positions in his cabinet.
McMahon has deep ties to both WWE and Trump, with the former president occasionally appearing at wrestling events. She co-founded WWE with her husband in 1980 and served as CEO until 2009, when she stepped down to pursue an unsuccessful Senate campaign.
While McMahon has limited experience in education, she did serve on Connecticut's state board of education from 2009 to 2010.
She currently chairs the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank, which suggests her confirmation in the Republican-majority Senate is highly probable.
“In her role as Chair of the Board at the America First Policy Institute, Linda has been a strong advocate for Parents’ Rights,” Trump stated.
He added that McMahon would "spearhead" efforts to "send education BACK TO THE STATES," aligning with his commitment to dismantle the Department of Education.
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McMahon was recently named in a lawsuit filed last month related to WWE. The lawsuit claims that she, her husband, and other company executives knowingly permitted a ringside announcer, who passed away in 2012, to abuse young boys.
The McMahons have denied any wrongdoing. A lawyer representing the couple told USA Today Sports that the allegations are "false claims" based on "absurd, defamatory, and utterly meritless" media reports.
Celebrity TV Doctor Selected to Lead Medicaid
Trump has selected Mehmet Oz, the celebrity TV doctor, to head the powerful agency overseeing the healthcare of millions of Americans. Oz, trained as a surgeon, gained fame through appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show in the early 2000s before hosting his own TV program, The Dr. Oz Show.
Oz has faced criticism from health experts for promoting questionable health advice, including endorsing weight-loss drugs, "miracle" cures, and suggesting malaria drugs as a treatment for COVID-19 during the early stages of the pandemic.
In a statement, Trump praised Oz, saying, “There may be no physician more qualified and capable than Dr. Oz to Make America Healthy Again.”
The Trump transition team added that Oz would work closely with Health Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to challenge what they called the "illness industrial complex" and address the chronic diseases it leaves behind.
Oz’s appointment will require Senate confirmation before he officially takes charge of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which administers the nation's largest healthcare programs, covering over 150 million Americans. The agency also regulates health insurance and sets policies that affect how much doctors, hospitals, and drug companies are paid for medical services.
In 2023, the U.S. government spent more than $1.4 trillion on Medicare and Medicaid, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Trump stated that Oz would “cut waste and fraud within our Country's most expensive Government Agency.” The Republican Party's platform also promises increased transparency, choice, competition, and expanded access to healthcare and prescription drugs.
Oz, 64, is a trained cardiothoracic surgeon who worked at New York’s Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University. His rise to fame on *The Oprah Winfrey Show* led to his own show, where he dispensed health advice. However, his recommendations of homeopathy, alternative medicine, and other treatments have been widely criticized as pseudoscience.
In 2014, Oz faced backlash during Senate hearings for promoting unproven diet pills. Although he denied selling supplements on his show, his financial ties to healthcare companies came to light during his 2022 U.S. Senate campaign in Pennsylvania.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Oz also promoted the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, malaria drugs that experts later deemed ineffective for treating the virus.
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