All posts tagged "linda mcmahon"

One powerful remedy would rid us of Trump — and he's scrambling to hide it

It has become increasingly apparent that Donald Trump is turning his presidential administration into the most corrupt in U.S. history. Nothing that comes from the mouth of Trump or his loyalist appointees can ever be trusted.

Trump appointees John Radcliffe, Kash Patel, and Pete Hegseth, heads of the CIA, FBI, and Pentagon respectively, reiterated Trump’s lie that the U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities “obliterated” the country’s nuclear program.

Damage assessments by the Pentagon Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) proved the claim to be patently false.

Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, had testified to Congress that there was no evidence Iran was building a nuclear weapon. Since that assessment ran contrary to Trump’s reason for bombing Iran, Gabbard reversed course, lying that she had been wrong.

Trump’s Education Secretary, Linda McMahon, lied to the Senate Appropriations Committee that massive cuts in employee numbers are not intended to reduce the role or effectiveness of the DOE. In reality, McMahon is doing her intended job: to oversee the dismantling of the department at Trump's behest, to eliminate the federal government’s support for public education.

Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed months ago that she had the list of people associated with convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein sitting on her desk. Since such a list would embarrass Trump at the least or implicate him at the worst, she later contradicted herself and said that she was referring to all Epstein documents, not a specific associates list.

After releasing several monthly reports citing positive U.S. job growth, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported much slower growth for July. Since the report didn’t support Trump’s claims of a booming US economy, Trump attacked BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer, falsely claimed the numbers were rigged, and fired her. No doubt she will be replaced by a Trump loyalist, the veracity of the BLS jobs report never again to be trusted.

Trump’s consistent modus operandi is to attempt to alter reality whenever the truth doesn’t suit him and to get rid of anyone who doesn’t go along.

Trump continues to lie that the 2020 presidential election was fixed, that he had no role in inciting the violent January 6 Capitol riot, that he had no role in the fake presidential electors' scheme, that he didn’t attempt to coerce the governor of Georgia to “find votes,” and that he had the right to abscond with highly classified documents after leaving office in 2021.

His illegal acts earned him two DOJ indictments and potential prison time had he not been elected president.

Of course, Trump’s lying never ceases. To support his demand that the Fed lower interest rates, Trump lied that there is no inflation when the last report indicated a worrisome spike.

To humiliate Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell, Trump ambushed Powell on TV, lying that the Fed had grossly overrun its renovation costs by throwing in a building that was renovated five years ago. Powell called out Trump on the lie and reversed the humiliation, his days as board chair assuredly numbered.

The corruption at the core of Trump’s being has permeated the Republican-controlled federal government. The understood charge of all Trump appointees is to peddle his lies, gloss over his failures, and put their agencies and departments at his disposal. The vast majority of Republican congressmen share in the corruption, either by allowing Trump and his appointees’ lies to go unchallenged or by reinforcing them.

Think tariffs are a boon to Americans? That Trump has the gravitas to bend Putin and Netanyahu to his will? That greater consumer spending will reduce America’s gigantic deficit? That ICE is only going after immigrants with criminal records?

If so, the Trump administration’s perpetual lying machine along with a complicit Republican Congress is accomplishing its purpose.

When a democratic government loses the trust of the people, there is one powerful remedy: turning out the scoundrels who betray the American people with their every dishonesty. But Trump and his servile allies are banking on Americans being so dupable that we will continue swallowing their every deceit.

If they are right, we are fast approaching a totalitarian future where the truth is whatever guileful lie the government fabricates. If they are wrong, we the people will unceremoniously sweep them from office, beginning in 2026, and restore Americans’ trust in our democratic government.

Tom Tyner is a freelance editorialist, satirist, political analyst, blogger, author and retired English instructor.

This Supreme Court ruling may be the worst yet

When the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the law, and then executes on that promise, it is the Judiciary’s duty to check that lawlessness, not expedite it.— Dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, Linda McMahon, Secretary of Education, et al., vs. New York, et al.

The Supreme Court’s Republican majority just authorized Donald Trump’s complete dismantling of the US Department of Education. In another shadow docket ruling that lacks legal precedent, facts, or justification, the court dealt an even more serious blow to separation of powers than to public education.

The Education Department was established by federal statute in 1979, to “strengthen the Federal commitment to ensuring access to equal educational opportunity for every individual.”

Congress not only created the Department by federal statute, it tasked it with specific priorities:

Funding kindergarten through 12th grades with over $100 billion annually (around 11 percent of all funding for such public schools)
Running the federal student financial aid system which awarded over $120 billion a year in student aid to over 13 million students
Ensuring equal access to education for poor, disabled, and disadvantaged students
Administering the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) with special education services for more than 7 million students
Administering grants for students seeking college degrees or higher education.

Congress expressly prohibited the Secretary of Education from “abolishing organizational entities established” in the Department’s founding statute without following prescribed steps. Those steps require 90 days’ advance notice to Congress providing factual support and explanations for each of the proposed actions of abolishment. None of those statutorily-mandated steps were followed by the Trump administration.

Other presidents respected Congressional authority

Presidents have felt differently about the value and purpose of the US Department of Education, but all of them, prior to Trump, recognized that they lacked the unilateral authority to eliminate a federal department that Congress specifically created. Not only did Congress create the Department of Education, it passed education-related mandates and tasked the department with carrying them out.

In 1982, President Ronald Reagan wanted to dismantle the department, and submitted a proposal to Congress that would have done just that. Reagan withdrew his plan after it garnered little support in Congress.

Trump, in contrast, appointed Linda McMahon to lead the department with a mandate to “put herself out of a job,” meaning, to eliminate the entire agency. Commencing with immediate layoffs in March, McMahon confirmed that her first reduction in force (RIF) — which cut the Education department’s staff in half — was “the first step on the road to a total shutdown” directed by the president.

McMahon’s first RIF came with employee lock outs, which made it impossible for terminated staff to hand off work to remaining staff. Like 500 tons of USAID food that Trump just ordered incinerated rather than let it feed people, all the education department work that went into those projects was simply destroyed.

At a Congressional budget hearing, when McMahon was asked if she or the department had conducted “an actual analysis” to determine what the effects of the reduction in force would be on the Department’s statutory functions, McMahon testified, simply, “No.”

Decision supports what Trump started

The Court’s decision came two weeks after states received a three-sentence email from the US Department of Education advising them that $7 billion in education funding — which was scheduled to arrive the next day — was being frozen indefinitely, without providing a reason.

The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 says the president cannot refuse to spend funds Congress previously appropriated. But Trump claims that act is unconstitutional, and that he should have greater control over Congressional spending.

Impounded funds had been earmarked by the states to provide afterschool and summer programs so students nationwide would have somewhere to go while their parents are working, along with adult literacy classes, in-school mental health support, smaller class sizes for elementary classrooms, and services for students learning English.

Alabama’s Superintendent of Education, Eric Mackey, told ABC News that Trump’s funding block would hurt students with the greatest need, and that, “The loss of funding for those rural, poor, high poverty school districts” makes it all that much more difficult to educate poor children in those communities.

Separation of powers is becoming a quaint memory

Our constitutional order, for the last 250 years, has been that Congress “makes laws” and the President “faithfully executes them.” There is no language in the Constitution that authorizes a President to unilaterally enact, amend, or repeal statutes.

Republican justices on the Supreme Court read history selectively, as they consistently bend existing statutes to satisfy Trump’s will. The Education decision followed a similar shadow docket ruling made just one week ago in Trump v. American Federation of Government Employees.

In American Federation, the Court allowed the Trump Administration to fire tens of thousands of workers at 19 federal government agencies — the bulk of the federal government — while appeals over the firings continue.

The dissent in both cases was livid. Justice Sonia Sotomayor called the Education decision “indefensible” because it “hands the Executive the power to repeal statutes by firing all those necessary to carry them out.” Aside from supporting public education in general, the gist of the dissent was that allowing an executive to unilaterally dissolve a federal department expressly created by Congress poses a grave threat to the separation of powers by diminishing the role of Congress.

SCOTUS approves Trump’s disregard for the law

Aside from the fatal blow to the separation of powers, the Republican majority on the high court has rewarded a thuggish president for his continuing pattern of breaking the law first and seeking permission later.

Congress expressly barred the Secretary of Education from altering functions assigned to the Department by statute, and barred her from abolishing organizational entities established by law.

But Secretary McMahon, directed by the president, did it anyway.

As the dissent put it, “The Executive has seized for itself the power to repeal federal law by way of mass terminations, in direct contravention of the Take Care Clause and our Constitution’s separation of powers.”

The Court’s majority has now altered our Constitutional makeup, conferring on Trump the power to repeal laws by firing all employees necessary to carry them out. Instead of taking care that the nation’s laws are “faithfully executed,” the court’s majority has told Trump he can simply discard them.

Sabrina Haake is a columnist and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. Her Substack, The Haake Take, is free.

Supreme Court's new 'seismic' ruling with 'zero explanation' stuns legal experts

The U.S. Supreme Court has released another shadow docket decision with major implications for Department of Education employees on Monday, all without a "single word of explanation," according to legal experts.

Even though the court is currently on summer recess, it saw fit to take immediate action on the decision that allows the Trump administration to proceed with firing department employees.

This, as Education Secretary Linda McMahon continues to work to dismantle the department altogether.

The 6-3 decision saw the liberal justices Jackson, Sotomayor, and Kagan dissenting.

Immigration attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick called the ruling, "Yet another seismic decision fundamentally reshaping our system of government issued on the shadow docket with not even a single word of explanation."

University of Minnesota Law Professor Charlotte Garden posted to BlueSky, "I'm not pollyannaish about the Court, but I'm still shocked by this - there will be an enormous amount of chaos, and damage that cannot be undone. And zero explanation from the 6 justices in the majority."

Another professor, Steve Vladeck of Georgetown Law, posted, "Since April 4, #SCOTUS has issued 15 rulings on 17 emergency applications filed by Trump (three birthright citizenship apps were consolidated). It has granted relief to Trump ... in all 15 rulings. It has written majority opinions in only 3. Today's order is the 7th with no explanation *at all.*"

Attorney @benjaminkabak wrote, "As an attorney, I have to tell you it feels real s----- having 6 lunatics determine on a near-daily basis the law isn’t real so long as Trump says while not even bothering to offer up any half-a--ed explanation whatsoever. The Constitution is cooked."

Supreme Court Reporter Katie Buehler wrote, "The Supreme Court *allows* the Trump administration to move forward with large-scale layoffs at the Department of Education, where the government wants to fire ~50% of the workforce to 'streamline' the agency. Liberals dissent."

"Often even when I disagree with a Supreme Court decision I can see the reasoning behind it, but I honestly, truly do not understand this," wrote civil litigator Owen Barcala.

Trump's education sec'y mocked after 'basic math' flub during House grilling

Education secretary Linda McMahon was roundly mocked on social media after flubbing "basic math" while testifying Tuesday morning before the Senate Appropriations Committee on the department’s fiscal 2026 budget request.

According to The Hill, "The request by the Trump administration...includes major cuts to federal education and research programs, putting a focus on state and local education systems. It also includes a boost in charter school grants."

Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) took a moment out of the hearing to explain to McMahon the difference between "billion" and "trillion."

"I’m not a great mathematician but I think you were talking about a trillion dollars," Reed said. "I believe 1.5 billion times 10 is 15 billion."

McMahon responded, "I think the cut is $1.2 billion," to which Reed replied, "That would be 12 billion, not a trillion."

"Okay," McMahon relented.

ALSO READ: FBI silent as far-right podcaster demands Trump execution and Kash Patel torture

On X, West Virginia political commentator Timothy Bellman wrote, "The person running the department of education should be able to do basic math. F---, that should be a requirement for even being in government."

Investment banker Evaristus Odinikaeze posted, "These are the issues. When the people selling you a '$1 trillion savings plan' can’t even do basic math, you know it’s not about fiscal responsibility, it’s about smoke and mirrors. If they can’t tell the difference between a billion and a trillion, why should anyone trust them to manage a budget, let alone restructure the economy?"

"GOP fiscal policy in a nutshell: make up a number, say it with confidence, and hope no one brings a calculator," wrote singer/songwriter Nikos Unity.

The account of @DenisonBarbs told their 20,000 followers, "The chief educator is getting schooled?" while filmmaker @jeremynewberger wrote, "Math is so subjective tho."

Even DOGEai agreed with Reed: "The math doesn’t lie—politicians do. A trillion is 1,000 billion, not 10. Confusing the two? That’s how D.C. burns through your cash. If they can’t grasp basic arithmetic, why trust them with budgets? This isn’t a rounding error—it’s systemic incompetence. Every misplaced zero equals billions wasted on bureaucracy while real priorities get crumbs. Time to demand accountability, not excuses."

'Anyone paying attention?': Outrage after Linda McMahon's 'attack' on colleges

President Donald Trump's education secretary Linda McMahon drew scathing criticism on social media for touting academic research that falls in line with the Trump administration's values.

McMahon told CNBC on Wednesday, "Universities should continue to be able to do research as long as they're abiding by the laws and in sync, I think, with the administration and what the administration is trying to accomplish."

Her comments followed in the wake of Trump's recent attacks on Harvard University over issues of free speech and academic freedoms.

"Trump is trying to take over, the schools, the media, the law firms and the courts. Is anyone paying attention?" wrote @DenisonBarbs to their 19,000 followers on X.

EXCLUSIVE: Trump accused of new grift that puts Qatari plane in shade

Liberal commentator @margaretsiegien posted, "Linda McMahon's comments are a blatant attack on academic freedom, using anti-Semitism as a convenient excuse to punish Harvard for not bowing to Trump's agenda. Withholding federal funding over political disagreements is a cowardly move that undermines education and research. This isn't about protecting students; it's about silencing dissent. The administration's hypocrisy is staggering, and their actions are a disgrace to the principles of free inquiry. Wake up, America this is fascism in action."

Cybersecurity expert @_oRyca_ wrote, "Ah yes, the new standard for academic research: only legal if it vibes with the administration’s political agenda. Who needs academic freedom when you can have government-approved science and research that’s 'in sync' with the party line? Next up: peer review by cabinet members."

The account of investment banker @odinikaeze called McMahon's statement "deeply troubling, and fundamentally un-American."

"In a free democracy, university research is not supposed to be 'in sync' with any administration’s political agenda. That’s not academic inquiry, it’s propaganda. Universities are bastions of independent thought, critical inquiry, and intellectual freedom. Their role is to challenge assumptions, pursue truth, and often question those in power. Requiring them to align with any administration’s goals, left or right, would erode the very foundation of academic freedom. If scientific discovery, historical research, or public policy studies are forced to conform to political aims, we lose not just truth, but also progress."

Filmmaker @jeremynewberger wrote, "Making everyone dumber, killing off people through disease or poverty, or giving all of our money to Trump? Which administration policy is she talking about?"

Watch the clip below via CNBC or click the link.

'Body slammed!' Dem lawmaker praised for takedown of ed secretary Linda McMahon

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) received widespread praise on social media Wednesday for her takedown of Linda McMahon during the education secretary's defense of the Trump administration's plan to slash $4.5 billion from the nation's K-12 schools.

McMahon, a billionaire thanks to her involvement with World Wrestling Entertainment, testified before the House Appropriations Committee, echoing the administration's talking points on "waste, fraud, and abuse."

McMahon said the school cuts and Trump-directed dismantling of her department would "shrink bureaucracy and empower states 'to manage education in this country,'” The New York Times reported.

"You can say anything you want because your rhetoric means nothing to me," Coleman said while jabbing her finger at a smiling McMahon.

"What means something to me is the action of this administration, from the President of the United States conducting himself in a corrupt manner to his family enriching himself corruptly, to determine that this administration can tell you what's right, what's wrong, what's lawful, what's not. That it can arrest judges, it can arrest lawyers, it can use its power to bully people. And I'm telling you the Department of Education is one of the most important departments in this country, and you should feel shameful being engaged with an administration that doesn't give a damn."

EXCLUSIVE: Trump accused of new grift that puts Qatari plane in shade

The account of @lilwaltjr305 on X posted, "Ma(d) Shoutout to @RepBonnie Watson Coleman. She just body slammed the Secretary of Wrasslin' Linda McMahon. Hell yeah Auntie Watson Coleman."

Journalist B.J. Bethel posted simply, "Linda McMahon vs. Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman."

"She’s like 'you can bring Hulk Hogan, you can even bring Triple H. I said what I said,'" posted the account of @crosbyt123.

Occupy Democrats lavished praise on Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) in a lengthy post.

"Democratic Congresswoman Madeleine Dean obliterates MAGA Education Secretary Linda McMahon for trying to gut her own Department: 'Why are you in this job at all?' This is what we've all been dying to say to this monster's face..." began the post to the account's nearly 700,000 followers.

At least one Republican was unhappy with McMahon's comments on the department's TRIO educational outreach programs "designed to motivate and support students from disadvantaged backgrounds," according to ed.gov.

USA Today education reporter Zach Schermele wrote, "'I'm not sure that all the expenses in TRIO should be there,' Linda McMahon told members of Congress today. That assertion rankled even Rep. Mike Simpson, a Republican congressman from Idaho who called the program 'highly successful' and said other programs could learn from it.'"

Watch the clip below or at this link.

'Unprecedented': Report sounds warning over role of Truth Social in Trump world

President Donald Trump's Truth Social platform was slammed as an "unsuccessful and money-losing Twitter competitor" in a Mother Jones article Tuesday.

Yet to him, it remains a valuable tool keeping his cash flow moving and his administration in line, the report claimed.

According to senior reporter Anna Merlan, "The company that owns TruthSocial, Trump Media & Technology Group, has also been a way for the president to draw his political allies closer, through payments, board seats, and generous stock rewards."

The Trumps see the company as a sort of piggy bank, with Merlan writing, "TMTG paid Donald Trump Jr. $813,000, a quarter of TMTG’s 2024 annual revenue, 'just for showing up at board meetings,'" and "CEO Devin Nunes, a former California Republican congressman, has made at least $6.3 million running the company since 2022 — 'a stunning figure for a firm that is struggling to earn any money.'"

ALSO READ: 'The Hard Reset': Here's how the U.S. is exporting terrorism around the world

Merlan writes that the publicly-traded TMTG "is unlikely to ever become a real success outside of the Trump universe," but it provides a valuable service to those seeking a window into Trump's transactional presidency and how he and his administration dabble in "unprecedented mingling of his corporate and political fiefdoms."

For example, Merlan writes that "three people who have held shares or served on the board of TMTG have been appointed to high-profile positions in the Trump administration: Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI director Kash Patel, and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon." Trump has appointed "at least four others with TMTG ties to federal roles," Merlan writes, but none has filed paperwork to divest from the company as they promised to.

Tony Carrk, the executive director of the government watchdog Accountable U.S., told Mother Jones, “The unprecedented situation of president Trump rewarding investors and executives in his media company with administration jobs sends a clear message to the wealthy, corporate lobbyists and foreign interests that the road to influence in the United States runs through Trump Media."

He continues, “No one should be surprised that president Trump’s first weeks in office have been about removing barriers to corruption and dismantling oversight, not about lowering costs for working families. Trump cares more about lining his own pockets and his wealthy friends’ than putting money back into yours.”

Read the Mother Jones article here.

What Donald Trump's weird WWE Hall of Fame speech tells us about his debate strategy

Eleven years ago, Donald Trump delivered an uncharacteristically short and all-but-forgotten speech before a decidedly unfriendly crowd.

But Trump's extemporaneous address to professional wresting luminaries and fans during the 2013 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony in New York City — Trump himself was an inductee — is a curiosity worth momentarily revisiting, if only for what Trump prophesied about a pair of presidential debates with Joe Biden, the first of which is scheduled for tonight, June 27.

Here are five notable foreshadowings:

Trump loves twins

“We had back-to-back WrestleManias, and it was really terrific. It was a terrific time," Trump said in his WWE Hall of Fame speech, referring to WrestleManias IV and V, which the then-World Wrestling Federation staged in Atlantic City, in a convention hall next to Trump's Trump Plaza hotel and casino. (Trump Plaza fell into disrepair during the 2010s and was imploded in 2021.)

Trump has an affinity for twin billings. He wasn't satisfied with one Atlantic City property, so he launched another. (And then another.)

They all failed.

Trump wasn't satisfied with one stint as president, either, so he's attempting to become the second former president — Grover Cleveland was the first — to win two non-consecutive terms.

ALSO READ: 8 ways Trump doesn’t become president

And Trump's second impeachment acquittal in two years helped embolden him to again run for president. "Our historic, patriotic and beautiful movement to Make America Great Again has only just begun," Trump said at the time.

So it's no surprise that Trump agreed to debates against Biden — one tonight on CNN, the next in September on ABC. It's the same number — two — that the two men participated in during the 2020 presidential campaign.

It's all about the ratings

“To this day, it has the highest ratings, the highest pay-per-view, in the history of wrestling of any kind. I’m very honored by that. And perhaps that’s why I’m being inducted," Trump said of his "Battle of the Billionaires " proxy match with then-WWE CEO Vince McMahon at WrestleMania 23.

The match ended up with McMahon getting his head shaved — and Trump being slammed to the canvas by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.

A spectacle it certainly was — one that allowed Trump to engage in a most cherished pastime: boasting about how he alone can make or break a televised event.

Since the first Trump-Biden 2024 debate is scheduled to air on CNN — and will not be broadcast on all national networks simultaneously as was standard practice for Commission on Presidential Debates-sanctioned debates — viewership could be massive.

And given that Trump has endlessly ragged "failing" CNN for its ratings, bet that Trump will use the first debate as proof — if there is proof to be had — that he alone has captured the imagination of America's body politic.

Expect Trump to play the heel

"Tough. Tough people. Thank you very much everybody," a smirking Trump said as the crowd booed him as he started his WWE speech.

"I really do love you people, even the ones that don’t like me so much," Trump said in conclusion, as a version of The O'Jay's hit song, "For the Love of Money," reverberated through the arena.

Writing for The Baffler, Mike Edison defined a wrestling "heel" as such: "The role of a heel is to get 'heat,' which means spurring the crowd to obstreperous hatred, and generally involves cheating and pretty much any other manner of socially unacceptable behavior that will get the job done."

ALSO READ: How Trump could run for president from jail

And to paraphrase the late wrestling legend Gorilla Monsoon: Trump resembles that remark.

Trump — ever the provocateur — will almost certainly avoid the high road en route to the June debate in Atlanta as he bills himself as Biden's physical and mental superior.

For example, a lectern nearly toppled over while Trump delivered a recent speech in Minnesota. Trump posted to social media: "As far as the podium, I actually stopped it from falling due to good reflexes and strength, two elements which Joe Biden does not possess."

Hype machine in overdrive

"Now, Vince has been trying for the last six years to break our pay-per-view record. He’s had some great people on. But it’s not going to happen. And the same enthusiasm and love that you have for me tonight — I feel it. That’s why you all came down to watch me get my ass kicked and my head shaved, but it didn’t happen," Trump bragged to the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony crowd, which again showered him with jeers.

Compare that to Trump's acceptance last month of Biden's debate challenge.

“I am Ready and Willing to Debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September,” Trump posted on his Truth Social account.

"It’s time for a debate so that he can explain to the American People his highly destructive Open Border Policy, new and ridiculous EV Mandates, the allowance of Crushing Inflation, High Taxes, and his really WEAK Foreign Policy, which is allowing the World to 'Catch on Fire,'" Trump continued. "I am Ready and Willing to Debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September."

Trump added: “I would strongly recommend more than two debates and, for excitement purposes, a very large venue, although Biden is supposedly afraid of crowds — That’s only because he doesn’t get them. Just tell me when, I’ll be there. 'Let’s get ready to Rumble!!!'”

Trump could yet pull out

"I will challenge Vince next year to a fight. And I will kick his ass. If he wants. I will kick his ass!" Trump bellowed in reference to McMahon.

Despite his bluster, Trump did not pursue another "battle of the billionaires" melee. Rather, Trump went into political business with McMahon's wife, Linda McMahon, who would later become a Trump megadonor and his administrator of the federal Small Business Administration.

Little of this is surprising — and speaks to how Trump's political career, like his pro wrestling dalliance, is peppered with backtracks, flip-flops and about-faces.

Consider that Trump has been a Democrat, independent and Reform Party member before becoming a Republican.

He used to donate money to A-list liberals before strictly supporting conservatives.

He first flirted with a run for president in 1988. Ahead of Election 2000, at the behest of former pro wrestler and Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, Trump briefly sought the presidency as a Reform Party candidate, but quit. Trump flirted again with a run ahead of Election 2012 before withdrawing from consideration after "considerable deliberation and reflection." He even publicly pondered running for governor of New York in 2014, then didn't.

Meanwhile, Trump has been all over the map on issues such as abortion, Social Security, Medicare, gun background checks and a host of others.

And lest we forget, Trump nixed a scheduled debate between himself and Biden on Oct. 15, 2020. Trump simply refused to participate in what would have been a virtual event — the Commission on Presidential Debates made it such because Trump, who had contracted COVID-19 earlier that month at a time when vaccines weren't yet available, declined to say whether he had tested negative for the virus.

Trump refused to participate at all in any of the several 2024 Republican presidential primary debates.

Trump for weeks has demanded Biden take a drug test before the first debate, and he hasn't relented despite Biden ignoring him.

The takeaway?

While the June 27 Biden-Trump tilt is all but chiseled in granite, there's still plenty of time for Trump to withdraw from September's royal rumble.

This article originally published on Mary 21, 2024, and has been updated to reflect new developments.