Choosing the co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment as education secretary could indicate that Donald Trump is planning a ¡°theatrical smackdown¡± on US ÖйúAƬ, it has been warned.

Best known for her time as chief executive of WWE, Linda McMahon also served as director of the Small Business Administration in the first Trump administration?¨C a role for which the president called her a ¡°superstar¡±.

Apart from serving on the board at Sacred Heart University ¨C and briefly the Connecticut State Board of Education ¨C the major Republican donor has little experience within education, with the National Education Association labelling her unqualified.

¡°I think what it shows is that Trump prioritises loyalty and is placing old friends in high places,¡± Brendan Cantwell, a Michigan State University professor of higher, adult and lifelong education, told?Times ÖйúAƬ.

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¡°Linda McMahon has been a long-time associate of the president-elect, she¡¯s rich, she knows and likes the president, he knows and likes her, and so this is a sort of a reward ¨C it¡¯s patronage.¡±

In announcing the decision, Mr Trump said that his new education secretary would?¡°spearhead¡± efforts to ¡°send education back to the states¡±. It has previously been suggested that Mr Trump might seek to disestablish the Department of Education ¨C a complicated move?that would require congressional approval.

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Ms McMahon¡¯s lack of experience in education ¨C and her role as co-chair of the transition ¨C suggests that she was chosen purely to ¡°do the president-elect¡¯s bidding¡± in this one task, Professor Cantwell said.

¡°It's hard to know exactly what he means; whether it would be more like trying to devolve policy¡­or actually pick apart the department,¡± he said.

¡°Linda McMahon, having no real commitment to education policy, may be happy to be his loyal soldier in doing that.¡±

Her lack of qualifications?was consistent with?Mr Trump¡¯s intention to eliminate the department, agreed?Pedro Noguera, dean of the University of Southern California¡¯s Rossier School of Education.

¡°I believe there will be considerable opposition to any effort to eliminate the vital programmes that serve America¡¯s children in both red and blue areas, but I do think that they are serious about implementing their misguided agenda,¡± he added.

However, Frederick Hess, senior fellow and director of education policy studies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI) thinktank, said the sector should avoid ¡°gross assumptions based on biography¡±.

Dr Hess contrasted the ¡°profound ineptitude¡± of?Miguel Cardona, Joe Biden¡¯s secretary of education and a veteran school administrator, with what he saw as the ¡°admirable performance of ¡°outsider¡± Betsy DeVos during Mr Trump¡¯s first term.

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¡°Moreover, after the media¡¯s appalling treatment of DeVos and the free pass granted Cardona, I¡¯m hoping to see a more measured, even-handed assessment of McMahon¡¯s qualifications and, if she ultimately assumes office, her performance in it,¡± Dr Hess said.

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While Ms McMahon has said little publicly about ÖйúAƬ, statements from the American First Policy Institute (AFPI) ¨C the influential pro-Trump thinktank she co-chairs ¨C might give an indication.

It has said that the country¡¯s universities are ¡°lavishly funded by state and federal taxpayers¡± but are failing to live up to their important public responsibilities.??have touched on removing degree requirements from public sector job requirements, abolishing diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) laws and combating ¡°foreign influence¡± on campuses.

And in?, the AFPI criticised the ¡°woke worldview¡± of pro-Palestinian student protesters and said antisemitism?was a ¡°toxic ideology spreading through our universities¡±.

Professor Cantwell said student encampments could be one arena that the wrestling executive could make a grand entrance in ¨C possibly?echoing the controversial congressional hearings earlier this year.

¡°She¡¯s come from the world of showbusiness and, if we looked at the ÖйúAƬ antisemitism hearings in Congress last spring, that was a main event,¡± he added.

¡°It was a theatrical smackdown, and it?might indicate that the president is interested in this kind of theatrical culture war stuff, and that would be consistent with pro wrestling.¡±

Overall, Professor Cantwell said the sector would be ¡°confused and cautious¡± by the appointment, but perhaps slightly optimistic.

While ¡°it could have been worse¡±, he said, colleges?would be anxiously waiting to see who is appointed as undersecretary ¨C particularly if it is someone like Christopher Rufo, an ¡°active culture warrior¡± and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.

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¡°If Linda McMahon is the secretary and somebody equally detached from the sector becomes the undersecretary, then maybe this is mostly a big show, like a professional wrestling match,¡± Professor Cantwell said.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com