Beginning in February, President Donald Trump issued a series of orders targeting law firms that he claims have engaged in “conduct detrimental to critical American interests.” The firms named in the orders — Covington & Burling, Paul Weiss, Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, and WilmerHale — have previously represented clients or hired lawyers that opposed Trump and his administration. Several firms have brought lawsuits to challenge the executive actions, while others have sought deals with the White House. 

Many listeners have been asking for an ad-free version of this podcast that they could subscribe to — and we finally launched it. You can go to ReadTangle.com to sign up!

You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, our “Under the Radar” story ⁠here and today’s “Have a nice day” story ⁠here⁠.

Take the survey: What do you think about President Trump’s orders targeting law firms? Let us know here.

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Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall.

This podcast was written by Isaac Saul and edited and engineered by Dewey Thomas. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75.

Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Hunter Casperson, Kendall White, Bailey Saul, and Audrey Moorehead. 

Our logo was created by Magdalena Bokowa, Head of Partnerships and Socials. 

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On Monday, March 24, The Atlantic published a partial transcript of communications among Trump administration officials as they discussed impending military operations against the Houthis in Yemen over the Signal messaging app. The outlet’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, had mistakenly been added to the chat and was privy to sensitive discussions about the details of the attack (including types of aircraft, missiles and launch times, as well as the name of a CIA operative). Goldberg’s initial article omitted parts of the group’s communications on the grounds that it could jeopardize the lives of U.S. personnel, but he published the entire transcript on Wednesday after several administration members disputed his characterization of their contents. 

Many listeners have been asking for an ad-free version of this podcast that they could subscribe to — and we finally launched it. You can go to ReadTangle.com to sign up!

You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, our “Under the Radar” story ⁠here and today’s “Have a nice day” story ⁠here⁠.

Take the survey: What do you think about the end of the ceasefire? Let us know here.

You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. 

Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall.

This podcast was written by Isaac Saul and edited and engineered by Dewey Thomas. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75.

Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Hunter Casperson, Kendall White, Bailey Saul, and Audrey Moorehead. 

Our logo was created by Magdalena Bokowa, Head of Partnerships and Socials. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A few months ago I made a decision that changed my life and the trajectory of Tangle for good.

I was approached by a producer for a new podcast called “Question Everything,” hosted by Brian Reed (who you might know from the hit podcast S-Town). The producer, Zach St. Louis, told me they were doing a series about the state and future of journalism. They wanted to do an episode about Tangle, which I agreed to enthusiastically, and then Zach came down to the Tangle office and interviewed me for a few hours. 

During our interview, I mentioned to Zach that we’ve heard from many readers who said Tangle has helped them with their relationships with people in their family or friend groups with whom they share political disagreements. I even hear from married couples, I said, who are on opposite sides of the political spectrum. Zach was intrigued by this and ended up tracking down a few of those Tangle readers, including one couple who ended up being at the heart of the episode. 

A few months after Question Everything published our show, it was picked up by This American Life on NPR, which nearly doubled our readership and helped me make a few big hires at Tangle. It all happened right around the election, and was an incredibly exciting and overwhelming time. 

Now that the dust has settled a bit, we’ve decided to republish the original Question Everything episode on our own podcast feed so you all can listen to it (in the event you haven’t). And, when you're done, I highly recommend going to listen to all of the Question Everything series — which is a genuinely fascinating exploration of journalism.

Isaac & the Tangle team

By the way: If you are not yet a podcast member, and you want to upgrade your newsletter subscription plan to include a podcast membership (which gets you ad-free podcasts, Friday editions, The Sunday podcast, bonus content), you can do that here. That page is a good resource for managing your Tangle subscription (just make sure you are logged in on the website!)

Ad-free podcasts are here!

Many listeners have been asking for an ad-free version of this podcast that they could subscribe to — and we finally launched it. You can go to ReadTangle.com to sign up! You can also give the gift of a Tangle podcast subscription by clicking here.

You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. 

Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall.

This podcast was hosted by Ari Weitzman and Isaac Saul and edited and engineered by Jon Lall. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75 and Jon Lall. 

Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Hunter Casperson, Kendall White, Bailey Saul, and Audrey Moorehead. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you’ve ever read one of Vox’s famous “Explainer” articles, you’re probably familiar with Christian Paz’s work. His reporting is at the forefront of several animating issues in U.S. politics — immigration, the courts, the cultural impact of the Make America Great Again movement, and more. 

One recent story of his caught our eye and prompted us to reach out for an interview. The piece — titled “The Democrats’ young man problem is real” — offers a detailed look at the shift away from the Democratic Party among Gen Z in the 2024 election and the factors that are driving the trend. It touches on topics like artificial intelligence, social media, the Democratic brand and the unique appeal of Trump, and Paz makes a compelling argument about how these factors could come into play in 2026, 2028, and beyond. 

When we reached out to Paz, we were hoping to hear more about the ideological roots of this shift, but the conversation also ended up delving into the structural and cultural forces at play in the United States. Whether you’re on the left, right or center, this is a discussion that highlights probing questions about our political moment and how each party is adapting to a new generation of voters coming into their own. 

We’re excited to share the conversation and hear from you about the central question it raises: Have Democrats lost an entire generation of men?

Ari & the Tangle team

By the way: If you are not yet a podcast member, and you want to upgrade your newsletter subscription plan to include a podcast membership (which gets you ad-free podcasts, Friday editions, The Sunday podcast, bonus content), you can do that here. That page is a good resource for managing your Tangle subscription (just make sure you are logged in on the website!)

Ad-free podcasts are here!

Many listeners have been asking for an ad-free version of this podcast that they could subscribe to — and we finally launched it. You can go to ReadTangle.com to sign up! You can also give the gift of a Tangle podcast subscription by clicking here.

You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. 

Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall.

This podcast was hosted by Ari Weitzman and Isaac Saul and edited and engineered by Jon Lall. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75 and Jon Lall. 

Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Hunter Casperson, Kendall White, Bailey Saul, and Audrey Moorehead. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I lived in California for four years. In that time, I left San Francisco because of wildfire smoke twice, helped plant trees in burn scars three times, and got a taste of the constant concerns over the pressure of cataclysm that native Californians have gotten used to. I say all that not to establish myself as an expert in California and its issues, just to say that when the Los Angeles wildfires broke out earlier this year, I saw the continuing of a story that had been underway for decades, if not millennia. One of the chapters in that story is housing. It’s no secret that constrained housing has been an issue plaguing U.S. cities, especially on the West Coast. That issue has bubbled up in public discourse several times in the past year, with a case on homeless encampments making it to the Supreme Court and narratives of immigrants squeezing housing supply influencing the 2024 election. 

However, fewer people were connecting issues in the housing market to the California wildfires. One of the people making the case that the two were closely intertwined was Jack Nicastro, who wrote a piece in Reason Magazine about how California’s policy exacerbated the effects of the wildfires.

The piece gave a very cogent argument, and I knew I had to talk to him about it. Like me, Jack is not a California native. The two of us aren’t authorities on Los Angeles. However, we’re both very interested in housing policy, the wild-urban interface, and perverse incentives of government regulation. I sat down to talk to Jack for 25 minutes about his article, and that conversation turned into a 45-minute nerd-fest over libertarian theory and the residential insurance markets.

I really enjoyed getting the chance to talk with Jack Nicastro for the Tangle podcast, and I’m really glad we get to present the whole conversation to you in full.

Ari & the Tangle team

By the way: If you are not yet a podcast member, and you want to upgrade your newsletter subscription plan to include a podcast membership (which gets you ad-free podcasts, Friday editions, The Sunday podcast, bonus content), you can do that here. That page is a good resource for managing your Tangle subscription (just make sure you are logged in on the website!)

Ad-free podcasts are here!

Many listeners have been asking for an ad-free version of this podcast that they could subscribe to — and we finally launched it. You can go to ReadTangle.com to sign up! You can also give the gift of a Tangle podcast subscription by clicking here.

You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. 

Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall.

This podcast was hosted by Ari Weitzman and Isaac Saul and edited and engineered by Jon Lall. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75 and Jon Lall. 

Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Hunter Casperson, Kendall White, Bailey Saul, and Audrey Moorehead. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today is the beginning of the Tangle team’s “spring break.” As part of fostering work-life balance and also assuring our small team can survive the nonstop stream of news, I give our staff three breaks a year: one during August recess when Congress is out, one between Christmas and New Year’s, and one in March — a “spring break.”

Our March break begins today. The team is taking full advantage of it — we’re spread out from Japan to West Texas, taking vacation or recharging at home. However, as our team has grown, so too has our capacity to provide some content while we take breaks like this. So this week, in lieu of a newsletter, we are going to be sharing a series of podcast episodes that we didn’t get a chance to publish in the deluge of news these past few weeks.

The first is with Dave Weigel, a reporter at Semafor. Weigel is one of my favorite journalists. Whenever I check in on his Twitter feed or read his updates in Semafor, I get the sense that he is fair-minded and critical of all his subjects regardless of their politics. On top of letting his personality shine through in his writing, he’s also well-sourced, level-headed, and forward-thinking. So, when he agreed to chat with me about the first couple months of the Trump administration, where Congress is headed, and how voters are reacting to all this, I was thrilled.

By the way: If you are not yet a podcast member, and you want to upgrade your newsletter subscription plan to include a podcast membership (which gets you ad-free podcasts, Friday editions, The Sunday podcast, bonus content), you can do that here. That page is a good resource for managing your Tangle subscription (just make sure you are logged in on the website!)

Keep an eye out for some more content coming tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday. And, as always, feel free to give yourself a little “news vacation” if you need it, too. 

Best,

Isaac & the Tangle team

Ad-free podcasts are here!

Many listeners have been asking for an ad-free version of this podcast that they could subscribe to — and we finally launched it. You can go to ReadTangle.com to sign up! You can also give the gift of a Tangle podcast subscription by clicking here.

You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. 

Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall.

This podcast was hosted by Ari Weitzman and Isaac Saul and edited and engineered by Jon Lall. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75 and Jon Lall. 

Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Hunter Casperson, Kendall White, Bailey Saul, and Audrey Moorehead. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today's episode, Will Kaback and Isaac Saul discuss all the craziness and numerous stories we missed this week. The fact that President Trump is complying with court orders and nobody seems to care. We give some tip of the hats to Grok, Starlink and our dear friend Elon Musk. Then we play a game where Isaac tries to remember things we did a year ago. And last but not least, the Airing of Grievances.

This is a preview of today's special edition that is available in full and ad-free for our premium podcast subscribers. If you'd like to complete this episode and receive Sunday editions, exclusive interviews, bonus content, and more, head over to ReadTangle.com and sign up for a membership.

Ad-free podcasts are here!

Many listeners have been asking for an ad-free version of this podcast that they could subscribe to — and we finally launched it. You can go to ReadTangle.com to sign up! You can also give the gift of a Tangle podcast subscription by clicking here.

You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. 

Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall.

This podcast was hosted by Will Kaback and Isaac Saul and edited and engineered by Dewey Thomas. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75 and Jon Lall. 

Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Hunter Casperson, Kendall White, Bailey Saul, and Audrey Moorehead. 

Our logo was created by Magdalena Bokowa, Head of Partnerships and Socials. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom recently launched a podcast called This is Gavin Newsom. The show is advertised as a way for Newsom to sit down with a wide range of political thinkers, with a special emphasis on MAGA personalities who see politics very differently than Democrats do. So far, it’s living up to its billing.

Many listeners have been asking for an ad-free version of this podcast that they could subscribe to — and we finally launched it. You can go to ReadTangle.com to sign up! You can also give the gift of a Tangle podcast subscription by clicking here.

You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. 

Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall.

This podcast is written by Isaac Saul and edited and engineered by Jon Lall. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75 and Jon Lall. 

Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Hunter Casperson, Kendall White, Bailey Saul, and Audrey Moorehead. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israel Security Agency (ISA) announcedthey had carried out a series of airstrikes against what they said were Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. The strikes targeted mid-level Hamas commanders, senior political officials and Hamas's military infrastructure, according to an Israeli official. The IDF claimed to have killed Essam al-Da'alis, the head of the Hamas government, in the strikes. Then on Wednesday, the IDF said its forces resumed ground operations in central and southern Gaza. 

Many listeners have been asking for an ad-free version of this podcast that they could subscribe to — and we finally launched it. You can go to ReadTangle.com to sign up!

You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, our “Under the Radar” story ⁠here and today’s “Have a nice day” story ⁠here⁠.

Take the survey: What do you think about the end of the ceasefire? Let us know here.

You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. 

Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall.

This podcast was written by Isaac Saul and edited and engineered by Dewey Thomas. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75.

Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Hunter Casperson, Kendall White, Bailey Saul, and Audrey Moorehead. 

Our logo was created by Magdalena Bokowa, Head of Partnerships and Socials. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Saturday, the United States government transferred hundreds of noncitizens and alleged gang members to a detention facility in El Salvador, despite an order from a federal judge blocking the deportation flights. According to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, the deportees were transferred on three flights and included 238 alleged members of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua (TdA), as well as 23 alleged members of the street gang Mara Salvatrucha 13 (MS-13). President Trump justified their removal by invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798; he had previously designated the group a foreign terrorist organization infiltrating the United States. The detainees were sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador; CECOT is the largest prison facility in Central America.

Many listeners have been asking for an ad-free version of this podcast that they could subscribe to — and we finally launched it. You can go to ReadTangle.com to sign up!

You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, our “Under the Radar” story ⁠here and today’s “Have a nice day” story ⁠here⁠.

Take the survey: What do you think of the recent deportations? Let us know.

You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. 

Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall.

This podcast was written by Isaac Saul and edited and engineered by Dewey Thomas. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75.

Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Hunter Casperson, Kendall White, Bailey Saul, and Audrey Moorehead. 

Our logo was created by Magdalena Bokowa, Head of Partnerships and Socials. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.