What Pro Wrestling Taught Linda McMahon About Politics
The Political Scene | The New Yorker
The New Yorker
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 23 April 2026
⏱️ 48 minutes
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Summary
The New Yorker staff writer Zach Helfand joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss his Profile of Linda McMahon, the Secretary of Education. They talk about the sweeping layoffs and downsizing at the Department of Education during Donald Trump’s second term—a fulfillment of a long-standing conservative effort to dismantle the agency—and the consequences for students and schools that rely on its services. They also explore how McMahon’s tenure as C.E.O. of World Wrestling Entertainment set her up to be one of Trump’s most reliable and effective Cabinet members, across both his terms—and why the President has long been drawn to McMahon, her husband, Vince, and the world of professional wrestling.
This week’s reading:
- “How Professional Wrestling Prepared Linda McMahon for Trump’s Cabinet,” by Zach Helfand
- “J. D. Vance’s Bumpy Ride,” by Amy Davidson Sorkin
- “Donald Trump’s Triumphal Arch and the Architecture of Autocracy,” by Adam Gopnik
- “What Nicolás Maduro’s Life Is Like in a Notorious Brooklyn Jail,” by Diego Lasarte
The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week.
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, Zach. |
| 0:07.3 | Hey. |
| 0:08.5 | I think it's safe to say that Linda McMahon's prior job experience as a co-founder and longtime executive at World Wrestling Entertainment didn't exactly set her up to be a very good secretary of education. |
| 0:21.3 | But could you explain why her time at WWE actually set her up to be a very good cabinet secretary for Donald Trump? |
| 0:29.0 | Linda McMahon built the WWE with her husband, Vince. |
| 0:34.1 | And Vince was this very Trumpian character in that he was brash. |
| 0:42.1 | He was a rule breaker. |
| 0:43.6 | He was someone who would just steamroll over people. |
| 0:46.0 | He also had a genius for inflaming the crowd, for keeping people entertained, for spinning |
| 0:51.7 | up these crazy storylines that made the WWE what it was. |
| 0:56.1 | And also, as Trump runs into a lot, would act first before thinking and run into trouble. |
| 1:02.9 | And Linda McMahon was very good at implementing all of his crazy ideas and turning them into |
| 1:09.8 | like viable business propositions, and |
| 1:13.2 | also at cleaning up his messes. |
| 1:15.7 | And each time Vince would misstep, even before they owned the WWE, when he was just |
| 1:21.5 | an independent promoter, he would have these grand ideas like having evil cancan-evel jump over a canyon that wouldn't |
| 1:30.2 | really work out. |
| 1:31.9 | And when that didn't work, they weren't making enough money, they went bankrupt, she would |
| 1:37.9 | insert herself more into the business. |
| 1:40.5 | The same thing happened at the WWE. |
| 1:42.6 | Vince went on trial for steroid use in the WWE, and she became the president in that process, |
| 1:48.0 | because she was like the better public face for the company. |
... |
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