President-elect Donald Trump announced two more picks for key positions in his administration, saying on Tuesday that his transition co-chair Linda McMahon will be his secretary for the Department of Education and Dr. Mehmet Oz will lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Both picks have raised eyebrows from his critics, especially with McMahon and Oz’s backgrounds.
McMahon has a history of being a major Republican donor and a former pro-wrestling executive. During Trump’s first term, she was tapped to serve as his administrator of the Small Business Administration. She served in that role for two years before resigning in 2019 to become the chair of the America First Action super PAC.
Many thought that she might be picked to lead the Commerce Department, but Trump’s other transition co-chair, Howard Lutnick, earned that position.
Throughout his campaign, Trump discussed tearing down the Department of Education, and now McMahon could be the one to lead this initiative.
“Linda will use her decades of Leadership experience, and deep understanding of both Education and Business, to empower the next Generation of American Students and Workers, and make America Number One in Education in the World. We will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort,” Trump said in a statement.
Still, experts have been critical of getting rid of the entire department, being that it carries massive responsibility in delivering funding to almost every public K-12 school in the country. It is also responsible for the government’s $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio.
As for McMahon, the Trump pick previously served as the CEO of the WWE, which she founded with her husband, Vince McMahon. She stepped down as CEO in 2009 after helping grow the company to a major media empire.
McMahon also has two unsuccessful runs for Congress on her record, attempting to earn a Senate seat in Connecticut in 2010 and 2012. She self-funded both campaigns, putting in $50.1 million and $48.7 million into each, respectively, Open Secrets reports.
As for the TV personality Dr. Oz, he earned the support of Trump when he ran for one of Pennsylvania’s Senate seats in 2022. He inevitably lost to Sen. John Fetterman (D) but has remained a supporter of Trump ever since.
Now, the president-elect appears to be rewarding the support from Oz, putting him in charge of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“There may be no Physician more qualified and capable than Dr. Oz to Make America Healthy Again,” Trump said in a statement announcing the pick.
Trump went on to say that Oz would “cut waste and fraud within our Country’s most expensive Government Agency,” which could signal that entitlement spending may soon see cuts.
Oz is a former heart surgeon and professor at Columbia University. He came to fame after being Oprah’s go-to health gu-ru and later hosting a long-running talk show.
If confirmed by the Senate, he would work for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who would also need to be confirmed by the Senate as Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Trump still has several key positions to fill in his Cabinet, which so far have featured loyalists like South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL).