Perhaps you’ve heard that Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump’s selection for Small Business Administration, was on Capitol Hill on Tuesday for her confirmation hearing. If you have, it’s likely not because of what she said during the hearing, but rather because her son-in-law, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar Triple H, came along and stole the show.
Throughout the two hours, congressmen from both sides of the aisle —including Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-NC) — did plenty of gushing about being in the presence of wrestling royalty.
Unfortunately, that didn’t leave them much time to question McMahon about the controversial business decisions in her past, such as denying workers health care, lobbying against safety regulations, and turning a blind eye to steroid scandals, sexual harassment claims, and even deaths.
McMahon, the co-founder and former CEO of the WWE, has been described as one of Trump’s “more competent” cabinet selections — faint praise in a sea of nominees like Rick Perry, who reportedly didn’t know what the Department of Energy did before accepting Trump’s nomination to lead it, or Betsy DeVos, who lacks even a rudimentary understanding of most of the battles the Department of Education faces. But her resume still deserves scrutiny.
For one, her appointment is a pretty explicit example of pay for play — something Trump railed against during the campaign. She and her husband, Vince McMahon, have an extensive history with the president. Trump hosted Wrestlemania IV and V, and even participated in Wrestlemania 23; as a result, he was inducted as a member of the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013.
Stephanie McMahon and Triple H Attend President Trump's Inauguration: https://t.co/1dnG5LtJQz #inaug17 pic.twitter.com/nPFd5ZY4mg
— Pro Wrestling Sheet (@WrestlingSheet) January 20, 2017
McMahon has been trying to buy herself into politics for quite some time. In 2009, she resigned as WWE CEO and launched two unsuccessful senate campaigns in Connecticut, which she self-funded for about $100 million. This year, McMahon donated $7 million to support Trump’s presidential campaign; she previously donated $5 million to the Donald Trump Foundation.
Still, even the Democrats who defeated McMahon in her senate races have been supportive of her nomination as head of the SBA.
This belief that McMahon is qualified to lead the SBA is fueled by the narrative that she and her husband started the WWE — which is now a global enterprise with over 800 employees — “from scratch.”
But this story line is only believable in a universe in which the $1 million that Trump received from his father at the start of his career is considered a “small loan.”
The McMahons took over the WWE (then the WWF) from Vince’s father after it was already a very established and prominent company that dominated the mid-Atlantic and Northeast wrestling markets. They grew the company into the powerhouse it is today by trampling over wrestling organizations in smaller markets and effectively creating a monopoly.
Ian Williams broke down the “irony” of McMahon running the SBA, “an agency whose mission statement is ‘to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns’ and ‘to preserve free competitive enterprise,’ in a piece for VICE Sports:
That she is in this high-profile position is due to WWE’s ravenous appetite for putting other small businesses (read: wrestling territories) out of business. Further, that she actively, aggressively lobbied state governments to loosen regulations governing pro wrestling, allowing WWE to solidify its grip on the market when it might otherwise have stumbled enough to allow competitors to gain traction.
Small business advocates, including Amanda Ballantyne, director of Main Street Alliance, are very concerned about this part of McMahon’s past.
“From what we know of Linda McMahon’s record, there’s a history of questionable competitive practices as she and her husband developed their massive business through gobbling up their competition,” Ballantyne told the Washington Post.
While growing the WWE into an unassailable giant, the McMahons spent more than $1.5 million lobbying state and federal governments for deregulations that allowed the organization to bypass safety regulations by being classified as entertainment, not sport. The company also lobbied to keep its wrestlers classified as independent contractors, not employees, leaving many of its workhorses without health insurance.
Under McMahon’s purview, steroids were rampant in the WWE, as were head injuries and even deaths. But McMahon claimed that she “didn’t feel a responsibility” when wrestlers died.
Additionally, as reported by Travis Waldron and Dana Liebelson at the Huffington Post, McMahon defended the WWE against allegations of teen sex abuse when a sexual harassment scandal enveloped the company.
None of this necessarily means McMahon won’t be a capable leader of the SBA; she does have experience mentoring small business owners, and says she will strongly advocate for women, veterans, and minorities.
However, it’s concerning that on Tuesday, none of these issues were even deemed worthy of dwelling on. Instead, McMahon talked about how she “shared the experiences of our nation’s small business owners,” and Booker joked about helping out Triple H in the gym.
McMahon is expected to be unanimously confirmed.