Protester Interrupts Linda McMahon Hearing With a WWE Homage: ‘Can You Smell What Linda McMahon Is Cooking?!’
A Thursday Senate hearing with Linda McMahon was disrupted multiple times by protesters, one of whom used their minor demonstration to homage a classic World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) line.
McMahon, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Education, founded WWE with her husband Vince McMahon through their Titan Sports. Linda McMahon led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term in the White House.
“Can you hear what Linda McMahon is cooking? It’s a world without IDEA!” one protester said, referring to the Individual with Disabilities Education Act. The original disruption came during McMahon’s opening statement. McMahon had suggested IDEA could fall under Health and Human Services, rather than what would be her department should she be confirmed.
The “cooking” line was also a reference to a famous catchphrase used by Dwayne Johnson, then known as The Rock, during his time wrestling for the McMahons.
“Can you smell what The Rock is cooking?” he would ask audiences from the ring.
McMahon promised on Thursday to target the “bureaucracy” at the Department of Education. Trump has said he wants to do away with the Department of Education altogether. McMahon claimed the president only wants the department to run more “efficiently.”
“It’s not the president’s goal to defund the programs, only to have it operate more efficiently,” she said.
Another protester disrupted questions from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and identified himself as a teacher. He was quickly removed from the room.
A separate protester also disrupted Hawley’s questions by standing up and yelling, “Linda McMahon, you’re fired!” The protester said she was a public school graduate and accused McMahon of helping billionaires to “privatize education.”
Like Trump, Linda McMahon’s husband was famous for firing people on television.
Watch above via CSPAN.
