Linda McMahon Makes Major Fumble On Fox News While Trying To Defend Education Cuts

Education Secretary Linda McMahon is fumbling cardinal acronyms connected nationalist television.

The erstwhile nonrecreational wrestling promoter sat down Tuesday with Fox News to support her department’s monolithic unit cuts of immoderate 1,300 employees, which were announced earlier that day, lone to unwittingly beryllium conscionable however indispensable acquisition truly is.

McMahon explained connected “The Ingraham Angle” that Congress appropriates wealth done the department’s expenditures and programs including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, oregon IDEA, which provides children with disabilities escaped nationalist education.

When asked what “IDEA” stood for, however, the 76-year-old couldn’t accurately reply — and told big Laura Ingraham, “Well, bash you cognize what? I’m not definite I tin archer you precisely what it stands for, but that it’s the programs for disabled and needs [students].”

Ingraham couldn’t archer her audience, either, and leisurely wagered that the acronym stood for “Individuals with Disabilities Act.” The missing “E” for “Education” is, of course, virtually McMahon’s section — and 1 of the cardinal acronyms 1 mightiness expect her to know.

“This is my 5th time connected the job,” said McMahon. “I’m truly trying to larn them precise quickly.”

Best known for co-founding World Wrestling Entertainment, the 76-year-old was confirmed by the U.S. Senate past week to go President Donald Trump’s caput of education. On Tuesday, she claimed the upcoming unit cuts weren’t her thought — but Trump’s.

“That was the president’s mandate,” McMahon told Ingraham, per the Daily Beast. “His directive to me, clearly, is to unopen down the Department of Education. What we did contiguous was to instrumentality the archetypal measurement of eliminating what I deliberation is bureaucratic bloat.”

The section announced connected its authorities website Tuesday that the national acquisition workforce of 4,133 radical volition beryllium chopped astir successful fractional — to 2,183. Laid-off employees volition beryllium officially placed connected administrative permission opening March 21, per the DOE.

McMahon ardently defended the determination during her interrogation Tuesday with Ingraham.

“We wanted to marque definite that we kept each of the close people, the bully people, to marque definite that the outward-facing programs, the grants, the appropriations that travel from Congress, each of that are being met, and nary of that is going to autumn done the cracks,” she said.

Those already precarious cracks person grown successful galore areas since the COVID-19 pandemic, however, including speechmaking skills, according to the latest results of an exam known arsenic “the nation’s study card.” The exam further showed children person made small betterment successful mathematics since 2022.

“Donald Trump holds the aboriginal of 50 cardinal nationalist schoolhouse students crossed America successful his hands, and contiguous helium told those kids and their parents helium doesn’t springiness a damn astir them,” said Ken Martin, seat of the Democratic National Committee, successful a connection Tuesday.

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