2019
November
26
Tuesday

Monitor Daily Podcast

November 26, 2019
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The five hand-picked stories in today’s edition cover personal lessons from Watergate, how Netanyahu reshaped Israeli politics, Big Tech’s push to better banking, an homage to holiday workers, and navigating the gender divide at Thanksgiving.

First, if you’ve seen the movie “Ford v Ferrari,” you’ll recognize the historical echoes with the car industry today. More than five decades ago, Ford was trying to regain its status as an automaker for a younger generation. The debut of the Mustang in 1964 was the embodiment of that goal. 

Last week, Ford unveiled the Mustang Mach-E, an electric vehicle. “This is a Mustang for a new generation,” said Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford. It would be hard to overstate the significance of Ford’s move. It signals a profound shift. A leading American maker of combustion-engine cars is so confident of the future of electric, it put its signature pony emblem on a vehicle powered by electrons. 

If there were any doubt about today’s epic battle, Elon Musk made it explicit last Thursday with the debut of the Tesla Cybertruck, which looks more like a post-apocalyptic DeLorean on steroids than a pickup truck. Mr. Musk claims that there are already 200,000 preorders for the $39,900 e-truck. 

To rub it in, Mr. Musk posted a 16-second video showing a Ford F-150 losing a tug of war with the Cybertruck. The video has been viewed more than 12 million times.

Ford was not amused. For 37 years, the F-150 has been the bestselling vehicle in America. The Detroit automaker wants a rematch as soon as next week.

Ford versus Tesla: The battle for the future of fossil fuel-free transportation is on.


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

A deeper look

AP/File
John Ehrlichman, a former Nixon adviser and a key figure in the Watergate scandal, was surrounded by reporters outside the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., Feb. 22, 1975. Mr. Ehrlichman was convicted of conspiracy and perjury and served 18 months in prison.
Amir Cohen/Reuters
Supporters of Benjamin Netanyahu take part in a protest supporting the Israeli prime minister after he was charged in corruption cases, in Tel Aviv, Nov. 26, 2019. The words in Hebrew on the flag behind his picture read, "Only Bibi."
Jitendra Prakash/Reuters/File
A Sadhu or a Hindu holy man pays a vendor through Paytm, a digital wallet company, after buying a book during an annual religious festival in Allahabad, India, on Jan. 26, 2017.

A deeper look

Karen Norris/Staff

Essay


The Monitor's View

Reuters
President Barack Obama speaks to reporters during a 2015 visit to the federal prison outside Oklahoma City.

A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

A message of love

Goran Tomasevic/Reuters
A masked couple, demonstrators, kiss in front of a burning barricade durning a protest against Chile's government in Santiago, Chile, Nov. 25, 2019.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Karen Norris. )

A look ahead

Thanks for joining us. Come back tomorrow: We’re working on a story about how months of flooding awakened Mississippi residents’ sense of place and identity.

More issues

2019
November
26
Tuesday
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