Linda McMahon Gets a Ringside Seat for TrumpMania In private, Mr. Trump, who had lunch with Ms. McMahon at the White House on Wednesday, has blessed her with his highest praise for a woman in business or politics: “She’s a killer.” “He’d say, ‘You have to be,’” recalled Sam Nunberg, a former campaign adviser, “‘being married to Vince.’” Yet if Ms. McMahon’s career has often paralleled Mr. Trump’s — big swings, many misses, huge ratings — it is a sign of the times that a professional wrestling magnate can feel like the cabinet’s least conspicuous member. He was Mr. Outside and she was Mrs. Inside.” As the business grew — drawing millions of weekly cable viewers and making megastars out of wrestlers like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Triple H, who is now Ms. McMahon’s son-in-law — Mr. Trump became a friend, partner and occasional combatant in the W. W.E.’s weekly soap opera. “Don’t you think that successful people, male or female, have certain personalities?” Ms. McMahon, who now leads the Small Business Administration under Mr. Trump, said in an interview last month. (Mr. Trump’s tale of the tape that night included this rendering of his weight: “less than Rosie O’Donnell.”) In 2009, Mr. Trump feigned an acquisition of the company’s flagship program, “Monday Night Raw,” appearing via satellite to deliver the fake news — which, taken seriously by some investors, set off a brief stock price tumble before the matter was clarified.
