Linda McMahon education secretary; Bluesky : NPR

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Today’s top stories

President-elect Donald Trump announced he will nominate Linda McMahon to lead the U.S. Department of Education. During Trump’s first term, she was picked to run the U.S. Small Business Administration. She is best known for building the professional wrestling company WWE into a powerhouse alongside her husband.

• 🎧 McMahon is a surprise for the role as she wasn’t one of the education candidates with real conservative credentials, NPR’s Cory Turner tells Up First. She served on the Connecticut State Board of Education for about a year. She told the committee after she was nominated that she had gone to college with plans to become a teacher. More recently she chaired the board for the America First Policy Institute, which supports school choice. When it comes to closing the Education Department, Turner says a bipartisan group informed him that is one wrestling match McMahon — or any Education secretary — probably can’t win. The department was created by Congress and only Congress can abolish it.

FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell was grilled by Congress yesterday about accusations that the agency responded slowly to disasters and discriminated against some hurricane victims for political reasons. Meanwhile, the Biden administration wants more money for disaster recovery after this year’s blitz of hurricanes, flash floods and wildfires.

• 🎧 Criswell was pressed specifically on FEMA’s response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which hit the Southeast back-to-back, NPR’s Debbie Elliott says. In a particular incident that caused scrutiny, a now-fired FEMA supervisor directed workers to skip houses in Florida with Trump campaign signs during the aftermath of Milton. That former crew lead claimed she was following the standard protocol to avoid hostility that workers faced in the field after disinformation spread in the wake of Helene. Criswell denied any wider issue in the way FEMA provides disaster aid and said that the employee’s actions aren’t indicative of any widespread cultural issues at FEMA.

At least 100,000 people have left the social media platform X since Trump won the presidential election in what has become known as the X-odus. X is owned by Elon Musk, a vocal Trump supporter and now one of his key advisers. The platform has become overrun with posts about Musk and Trump. Many looking for an alternative have turned to Bluesky.

• 🎧 “After Trump won, many on X noted an uptick in Trump content,” NPR’s Bobby Allyn says. Leading up to the election, Musk tinkered with the algorithm to give his posts a boost. The app has always had conservative content, but users noted it stopped being a mix of views. Bluesky is still a small social network, but its CEO, Jay Graber, says it has been growing by about a million users a day since the election. Allyn says it is too early to say if Bluesky will be the new Twitter mostly because its infrastructure and staff are limited right now.

Seeking common ground

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. These stories explore how some people are trying to bridge divides.

As the holidays approach, many people are preparing to engage in conversations with loved ones who may hold differing views. Research in neuroscience and psychology indicates that, despite our disagreements, there are effective ways to bridge divides. If you find yourself in a disagreement where mutual respect is present and you’re interested in constructive dialogue, science offers several tools to help make the conversation more productive.

Today’s listen

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 show takes place 10,000 years before the rise of the novel’s messianic figure, Paul Atreides. Watson and Williams jokingly refer to the period as 10,000 years B.C. — before Timothée Chalamet, who plays Atreides in the Dune films. The sisterhood is working to direct humanity on the right path after a massive war where humans beat machines. 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.

3 things to know before you go

1. Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina has authored a measure that would ban transgender women from women’s bathrooms in the U.S. Capitol. This comes weeks before Democratic Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, the first openly trans person elected to Congress, is expected to be sworn in.
2. Alex Jones filed a lawsuit Monday against satirical news outlet The Onion to stop it from getting control of Infowars and its parent company.
3. Rust gets its world premiere today at a Polish film festival called Camerimage. It’s been more than three years since cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot on set.

This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.