Linda McMahon was appointed to lead the Education Department
The ABC News Interview with Linda McMahon: Donald Trump, the Wrestling Champion, and the Heart of a Warrior
Linda McMahon will be Trump’s pick to head the Department of Education. She was selected to run the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term. She is best known for building the professional wrestling company WWE into a powerhouse alongside her husband.
McMahon worked in the professional wrestling industry. She and Vince McMahon helped build World Wrestling Entertainment into a powerhouse.
In a statement on Truth Social, Trump said, as secretary of education, McMahon “will fight tirelessly to expand ‘Choice’ to every State in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decisions for their families.”
She appeared at the Republican National Convention earlier this year, and spoke emotionally about her first time working with Trump, saying, “Donald Trump is not only a fighter, ladies and gentlemen. He is a good man. He is the heart and soul of a warrior. And I believe that, if necessary, he would stand at the gates of hell to defend our country.”
At the same time, McMahon did not shy away from criticizing Trump’s comments about women during his 2016 presidential run. In an interview with Yahoo News, McMahon said, “Those [comments] were just over the top; they were deplorable, objectionable absolutely.” She added, “He’s not helping, certainly, to put women in the best light. He might regret them, or maybe he doesn’t. I realize he punches hard when he punches back, but that’s just over the top. I wish that no candidate would make those comments.”
She’s a longtime backer of the president-elect, and donated more than $7 million to two super-PACs that supported Trump in his first campaign for president, according to Open Secrets, a nonprofit that tracks campaign finance.
Biden and the Education Department: The Problem of Abandoning a U.S. Department of Education and Implications for Student Loans and Loan Repayment
Not on her own. Max Eden, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, says that Congress created the U.S. Department of Education and has no way of getting a majority in the Senate to abolish it.
How easy is it for 60 senators to abolish the department? “It’s next to impossible to see how you get 60 votes on that anytime soon,” Eden says.
It’s also worth noting that, even if the department were somehow shut down, the many things the department does wouldn’t necessarily go with it. For example: The major K-12 funding streams the department administers – including billions of Title I dollars to public schools in low-wealth communities – were created by Congress well before the department even existed.
“Many schools that rely on Title I most are in poor, rural, white areas,” says Rachel Perera, a fellow in governance studies. “They have shown time and time again that they aren’t interested in hurting their people in that way.”
The next secretary of education has the authority to influence policy that would have a direct impact on millions of Americans.
Advocates for gay and female students cheered the expansion of sex discrimination protections in schools to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
Donald Trump has railed against these protections, though, and vowed to unwind them – something that’s well within his education secretary’s power. That’s because Biden’s protections were not a change in the federal law known as Title IX, but a change in the government’s interpretation of the law, through the Education Department.
The incoming education secretary will also have big choices to make with the federal student loan program. Biden’s second effort at broad loan forgiveness, initiated after the Supreme Court scuttled his first, is now being litigated in court.
The rule was put on hold in September before it could be finished because of a court challenge from Republican state attorneys general. Estimated to cost roughly $150 billion, it would, among other things, cancel the debts of borrowers with older loans and erase accrued interest for the millions of people who owe more than they borrowed.
Also in limbo is Biden’s signature loan repayment plan, the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan, which slashes borrowers’ payments (to as little as $0) while also preventing interest from growing. It even offers a fast-track to forgiveness for borrowers with lower balances.
SAVE’s huge price tag and Biden’s decision to circumvent Congress by using the rulemaking process opened it up to a legal fight that ended Biden’s first big forgiveness pitch.
For months now, 8 million borrowers enrolled in SAVE have been on pause, not being asked to make payments while the courts slowly decide whether the repayment plan is legal.
The new education secretary could phase SAVE out if it’s deemed legal. And if the plan is struck down, again, only a sympathetic secretary would choose to appeal.
The Up First newsletter: How FEMA picks lead for education department. And, tips to bridge political divides: Report from the NPR Network
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The FEMA administrator was grilledyesterday by Congress about the agency’s response to disasters and its treatment of Hurricane victims. The Biden administration wants more money to deal with the aftermath of the disaster this year.
More than 100,000 people have left the social media platform X since Donald Trump won the presidential election. One of Trump’s key advisers is X, which is owned by Musk, a vocal Trump supporter. The platform is overrun by posts about Musk and Trump. People looking for an alternative have turned to Bluesky.
Over the last few years and through this year’s contentious campaign season, there has been a coarsening in the way people talk to each other. Reporters across the NPR Network are looking for examples of people working through their differences. Some people are trying to reach out to each other.
As the holidays approach, many people are preparing to engage in conversations with loved ones who may hold differing views. Despite our disagreements, there are effective ways to bridge the divide. Science can help make the conversation more productive if there’s mutual respect present and you want to have a constructive dialogue.
Source: Trump picks lead for Education Department. And, tips to bridge political divides
The Rise and Fall of Paul Atreide in the Bene Gesserit: HBO’s Dune: Prophecy
In the new HBO series Dune: Prophecy, Emily Watson and Olivia Williams play two sisters who form a powerful sisterhood later known as the Bene Gesserit. The rise of the novel’s messianic figure, Paul Atreide, takes place 10,000 years before the show. Watson and Williams jokingly refer to the period as 10,000 years B.C. — before Timothée Chalamet, who plays Atreides in the Dune films. Humans beat machines during a big war so the sisterhood is working to lead them on the right path. The six-episode season premiered Sunday. Morning Edition host Michel Martin spoke with Watson and Williams about the series’ way of tackling how women view and wield power.
