It’s Tuesday, February 17. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Mike Pesca on why he’s rooting against Eileen Gu. Tyler Cowen proposes a simple test for what people really think about immigration. Arthur Brooks on why you should take risks to find love. And more.
But first: The world is going electric—without America.
A lot of people think they know the story of Detroit’s failure in electric cars: Under pressure from Tesla’s success, and the Biden administration, they bet big on an electric transition only to find out that Americans don’t want the cars. That’s become the conventional wisdom on Detroit’s $50 billion worth of electric vehicle losses.
But it’s just not true. So argues Michael Dunne in The Free Press today. Michael is one of the most perceptive experts on America’s auto industry, and he walks through the series of mistakes that have led to America’s electric vehicle fiasco. Buyers in the U.S., just like in other countries, wanted electric cars. But Detroit didn’t know how to build the cars that they wanted, and created chaos as it tried to adapt its gas-powered lineup.
Read Michael’s report on why America is losing this vital economic race—and why it matters. —Mark Gimein
The latest product that China has ripped off, refined, and resold to the United States is not a knockoff AI, or Shein leggings, or a $99 Temu tablet. It is freestyle skier Eileen Gu. Born, raised, and trained in the United States, Gu is competing for China in this year’s Olympic Games. Gu is not bothered by competing for an authoritarian state. Neither are American media outlets, whose glowing profiles of Gu have been “indistinguishable” from Chinese state-sponsored coverage. Maybe, writes Mike Pesca, they should be.
A troubling new study has revealed that Americans now spend more money on OnlyFans than they do on The New York Times and ChatGPT combined. That’s bad news, and not just because porn is addictive, but because it’s risk-free. And it’s left today’s young people afraid of the messy emotions of real relationships. No rejection, no heartbreak. The only way out of the dating doldrums? “Treat your love life the way an entrepreneur treats a start-up,” writes Arthur Brooks, “not like looking for a stable job over Zoom in lower management.”
If you think that immigrants cause urban mayhem, look at the reality of the world’s great cities, writes Tyler Cowen. In the U.S., cities that are magnets for immigration—New York, Miami, Los Angeles—property prices have steadily risen. So, too, with countries like Sweden, supposedly overrun with immigrants. That, says Tyler, suggests that people aren’t quite as negative about the effects of migration as they might claim.
Coleman Hughes Live at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta
On March 9, join The Free Press’s Coleman Hughes for a special conversation at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta—the church led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Together with MLK Jr. biographer Jonathan Eig and civil rights pioneer Ambassador Andrew Young, he’ll explore what King’s legacy can teach us today, at a time when America seems to be reaching a boiling point. This event brings together three extraordinary voices in a legendary venue for an unforgettable conversation. It’s our first-ever event in Atlanta, and one you won’t want to miss.
MORE FROM THE FREE PRESS
THE NEWS
A nuclear power plant took flight for the first time in American history over the weekend as the military transported a miniature reactor from an Air Force base in California to a base in Utah. President Trump has pledged to get at least three nuclear reactors up and running within the U.S. by July 4.
Robert Duvall, the Oscar-winning actor known for his roles in The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, died peacefully at his Virginia home on Sunday, aged 95. He won an Academy Award for his role as a country singer in 1983’s Tender Mercies and received six other nominations, including for his performance as Lieutenant Kilgore in Apocalypse Now, famous for the line, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”
A partial government shutdown continued yesterday after lawmakers failed to make a deal with the White House to fund the Department of Homeland Security through September. Most DHS employees are working without pay as Democrats push for changes to immigration enforcement.
The Food and Drug Administration will act on a citizen petition to overhaul federal regulations of ultra-processed foods, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told CBS News’ 60 Minutes in an interview Sunday evening. The petition, started by scientist and former FDA commissioner David Kessler, calls for the FDA to cease classifying artificial sweeteners such as corn syrup as “Generally Recognized as Safe.”
The Pentagon may soon end its relationship with AI company Anthropic over its insistence on limiting how the military uses its models, Axios reported. The clash comes after months of disagreement between the government and the AI pacesetter, whose AI technology was reportedly used by the U.S. military in operations like the capture of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.
As a motive for the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie remains unknown, the FBI is analyzing DNA from a glove found near Guthrie’s home that appears to match one worn by a suspect recorded in doorbell camera footage. In an interview with the New York Post on Sunday, President Trump said he would urge the Justice Department to seek the death penalty if the 84-year-old mother of Today host Savannah Guthrie is killed.
The FBI is refusing to share evidence in the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis last month, Minnesota’s top investigative agency said yesterday. The state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said the refusal to cooperate is “concerning and unprecedented.”
"I would like to propose a simple metric for resolving disputes over whether immigration benefits a particular region or city. It is an imperfect standard.."
It's not about immigration; it's about legal immigration v. illegal immigration. We can have a conversation about the need for unsklled labor in a growing AI world, but that conversation should be based on legal immigration, not illegal immigration and completely dishonoring our laws - 8 U.S.C Section 1325 which is very clear.
When an immigrant ignores our laws from the get-go, it's a slap in the face to all Americans.
I don’t want an electric vehicle. I don’t know anyone who owns an electric vehicle. I have never heard anyone say they want an electric vehicle.
Maybe, if I lived inside of a large city, I would consider it for a second vehicle, for in city transportation. However, I don’t.
As a matter of fact, I live on the Gulf Coast. We have hurricanes and occasionally must evacuate. The very last thing I want is to be stuck in a traffic jam in the summer heat evacuating from a hurricane with anything other than an internal combustion engine. I can travel hundreds of miles on a relatively small tank of fuel, and if that’s insufficient, I can refill the tank in a matter of minutes.