Wrestling mogul McMahon could slam her way into Trump administration
President-elect Donald Trump will be the first World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Hall of Famer to occupy the Oval Office. The former CEO of that same wrestling empire could soon be the next chief of the Small Business Administration (SBA).
{mosads}Linda McMahon fits the profile of many high-level Trump advisors and appointees. She made millions in the private sector, has a decades-long relationship with Trump and has little experience in government.
McMahon was twice Connecticut’s GOP nominee for Senate, losing to Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal in 2010 and Chris Murphy in 2012, and served on the state’s board of education before her campaigns.
She met with Trump in New York earlier this week, and is reportedly in the running to lead the SBA, which helps connect small business owners with resources and financing.
In an interview last month with Hartford’s WFSB, McMahon said she hadn’t discussed an administration role with Trump, but said it would be “hard to turn down a request by the president to serve in his cabinet.”
“I think that should he call and ask me that, it would be something he thought was right for me, and I’ll leave that up to his judgement,” she said. “There are lots of different ways to go.”
McMahon, like Trump, made a fortune through a successful business centered around showmanship and glitz. She and her husband Vince led WWE (formerly known as the World Wrestling Federation) from northeast regional popularity to national ubiquity in the 1980s.
Starting as WWE’s business manager in 1980, McMahon became the company’s president in 1993 and CEO in 1997 until 2009, when she left to run for Senate. The wrestling company made more than $650 million in 2015, according to public disclosures — up $100 million from the year before.
McMahon has poured much of her wealth into Republican politics, including her own Senate races. Like Trump and scores of other executives-turned-politicians, she emphasized her business experience during her campaigns. Unlike Trump, she covered almost all of roughly $100 million cost of her two Senate bids, according to election filings.
Before and after her runs, McMahon contributed millions to Republican candidates and super-PACs. She donated $10,000 in June 2015 to a group backing Carly Fiorina’s presidential run and $5,000 in February 2015 to one supporting New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s campaign.
Trump himself has a long relationship with the WWE. His most famous wrestling moment came in 2007 at WWE’s flagship event WrestleMania, where he tackled Vince McMahon and helped wrestling legend “Stone Cold” Steve Austin shave McMahon’s head before being attacked by Austin. His connection to the McMahons stretches back decades earlier; his casino in Atlantic City, N.J., hosted WrestleMania in 1988 and 1989.
But despite that long relationship — and Trump’s support for Linda McMahon’s 2012 Senate run — she took a while to come around to Trump. She called some of his campaign rhetoric “deplorable” before his win, and “over the top and over the edge” in the post-election interview with WFSB.
Even so, McMahon donated $6 million to a super-PAC supporting Trump after he accepted the GOP nomination in July. She attended Trump’s election night watch party in New York and praised “my friend” on his “hard-fought campaign and victory.”
The WWE’s more controversial elements — including steroid issues, brain trauma injuries and violent and sexual storylines — could weigh on McMahon’s chances. McMahon herself played controversial on-screen roles, including one storyline that featured her husband drugging her while having an affair with a much younger woman.
However, her work outside the ring could pave the way for a relatively tame confirmation process from Democrats.
While at WWE, she spearheaded literacy and non-partisan voter registration campaigns, the latter featuring appearances from 2008 presidential candidates and then-Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.).
McMahon also recently started Women’s Leadership Live, an advocacy group that aims to launch women into successful business careers with guidance and networking.
Even Blumenthal, her former campaign foe, had high praise.
“She’s very successful, able and articulate, and has a lot to contribute,” he told reporters. “I’m not going to speculate in advance. She is a very successful businesswoman who would had a lot to contribute in a role where she aided and supported the business community.”
Murphy, however, was more reserved in his view of McMahon.
“I’ll look forward to her eventual confirmation hearing,” he told reporters. “She hasn’t been nominated for anything yet, so I’m not going to speculate, so I look forward to her coming before the Senate.”
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