On Sunday, a group of Democratic lawmakers in Texas left the state to deny the Republican-controlled state House the quorum necessary to vote on a new congressional map designed to give the GOP five additional seats in the U.S. House next year. In late July, President Donald Trump spearheaded the plan to redraw Texas’s Congressional map, years in advance of the typical decennial redistricting. Tangle LIVE tickets are available! We’re excited to announce that our third installment of Tangle Live ...
Aug 05, 2025•30 min
On Friday, President Donald Trump fired the commissioner of labor statistics for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Erika McEntarfer, after the agency released a lower-than-expected July jobs report and revised May's and June's numbers downwards. The BLS reported that nonfarm payrolls increased by 73,000 in July, below Dow Jones’s estimated gain of 100,000 jobs. Tangle LIVE tickets are available! We’re excited to announce that our third installment of Tangle Live will be held on October 24, 2...
Aug 04, 2025•33 min
In this episode, Isaac, Ari and Kmele talk about Sydney Sweeney and her wonderful jeans, the stock trading ban, the latest on the Trump economy and some of the fractures in MAGA world with whats going down in Gaza. All of this followed by an extra good grievance section. Tune in for a thought-provoking discussion that challenges conventional perspectives and offers fresh insights into today's most pressing issues. Ad-free podcasts are here! Many listeners have been asking for an ad-free version ...
Aug 03, 2025•1 hr 50 min
In the early days of 2023, a group of researchers and activists published a report with a shocking conclusion: Utah’s Great Salt Lake was losing water so fast that it was on track to effectively disappear within five years. Since the report was issued, the Great Salt Lake’s water loss not only slowed, but its water level actually increased . In June 2024, the lake’s two sides — which are divided by an embankment — were three feet higher than they had been two years prior. So what happened here? ...
Aug 01, 2025•17 min
On Tuesday, the Senate voted 50–49 to confirm Emil Bove to a lifetime judgeship on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) joined all Democrats in opposing Bove’s nomination; Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) did not vote . The confirmation follows a protracted fight over Bove’s nomination, which included whistleblower reports that Bove acted unethically and abused his power in previous roles. Tangle LIVE tickets are available! We’re excited to announce th...
Jul 31, 2025•30 min
In the past two months, several major U.S. food companies have voluntarily committed to removing artificial food dyes from their products, following a plan from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to work with the industry to phase out petroleum-based synthetic dyes. In June, Heinz and General Mills committed to removing synthetic dyes from all their products by the end of 2027, while Nestlé committed to their removal by the end of 2026. Tangle LIVE tickets are available! We’re excited to ann...
Jul 30, 2025•28 min
On Sunday, President Donald Trump announced that the United States and the European Union (EU) had reached a trade deal following a meeting between Trump and the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The U.S. and the EU agreed to a 15% tariff on most European goods imported to the U.S., as well as a commitment from EU members to buy $750 billion worth of U.S. energy and increase investments in the U.S. by $600 billion, including through the purchase of military equipment. The deal ...
Jul 29, 2025•28 min
The humanitarian situation in Gaza. On Sunday, the Israeli military temporarily paused operations in three parts of Gaza to allow aid groups into the enclave amid rising concerns over a hunger crisis. Separately, Israel airdropped humanitarian aid into Gaza for the first time since the start of its war with Hamas, one of several measures that government officials said were aimed at combatting “false claim[s] of deliberate starvation” in Gaza. Tangle LIVE tickets are available! Today we’re excite...
Jul 28, 2025•31 min
In this episode, Isaac, Ari and Kmele discuss the intricacies of political narratives surrounding the Epstein case and its implications, the candid revelations from Hunter Biden's recent interview, the dynamics of cancel culture, the complexities of climate change discourse, and the evolving landscape of political ideologies. Tune in for a thought-provoking discussion that challenges conventional perspectives and offers fresh insights into today's most pressing issues. Ad-free podcasts are here!...
Jul 27, 2025•1 hr 44 min
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about five things I had gotten wrong about Trump in his first six months in office. In all honesty, I’m not a huge fan of political prognostication, and I often try to avoid making predictions to focus more on my analysis and reporting. Still, predictions inevitably slip into that analysis; and my last retrospective, like many others I had written before it, was an exercise in the kind of accountable and analytical journalism we do here at Tangle. I’m a big fan of ...
Jul 25, 2025•15 min
On Thursday, the Senate voted 51–48 to pass a rescissions package clawing back $9 billion in federal funding that had previously been approved for international aid and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The next day, the House approved the package 216–213, sending it to President Donald Trump, who has yet to sign the bill. Tangle LIVE tickets are available! Today we’re excited to announce that our third ins...
Jul 24, 2025•33 min
On Friday, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard announced the release of files that allegedly show President Barack Obama and his national security cabinet members concocted a false narrative of Russian interference in the 2016 election. DNI Gabbard claimed the documents showed a “treasonous conspiracy” to overturn Donald Trump’s electoral victory, posting on X that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) will be turning the documents over to the Department of...
Jul 23, 2025•30 min
On Friday, President Donald Trump signed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, the United States’s first major cryptocurrency legislation. The new law establishes a legal category and regulatory framework for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency whose value is tied to a reference asset, like the price of gold or the U.S. dollar. As a result, banks, nonbanks, and credit unions will be able to participate in the stablecoin market and issue their own d...
Jul 22, 2025•32 min
On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal published a report claiming that President Donald Trump signed a letter containing a lewd drawing and sexually suggestive text as part of a birthday album for Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. The Journal says it reviewed the contents of the previously unreported album and letters but has not released any of the documents. President Trump strongly denied writing the letter and, on Friday, filed a defamation lawsuit against The Journal and its owners. Separately, the D...
Jul 21, 2025•28 min
Isaac, Ari, and Kmele really get into it about all the Jeffrey Epstein stuff for nearly an hour. Then they talk about their opinions on the Jerome Powell and President Trump situation. And, as always, the Airing of Grievances and a very good one at that. 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 subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or...
Jul 20, 2025•1 hr 28 min
Hundred-year floods in Central Texas. Wildfires encroaching on the Grand Canyon. Powerful hurricanes, heat records, even winter storms — these events have many people sounding the alarm about climate change. But which is it? Wetter or drier? Hotter, or more extreme in general? Can one effect possibly be causing such a wide range of problems? Are humans contributing to severe weather, or are these mostly random and uncontrollable events that the media is putting under a microscope? Ad-free podcas...
Jul 18, 2025•31 min
Biden’s use of the autopen. On Tuesday, Fox News reported that the White House Counsel’s Office — in coordination with the Justice Department — is investigating former President Joe Biden’s use of an autopen while in office. The Trump administration says the investigation will examine how Biden used the autopen , a machine that reproduces a person’s signature, over his presidential term, and whether the Biden administration had a policy in place to regulate its use. The Republican-controlled Hou...
Jul 17, 2025•27 min
In recent weeks, President Donald Trump has escalated his criticisms of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over Powell’s decision to maintain interest rates at current levels. The comments follow reports that Trump is considering removing Powell from his position, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the administration has begun vetting replacement candidates. Separately, on Tuesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, which sho...
Jul 16, 2025•27 min
On Monday, President Donald Trump announced two measures aimed at pressuring Russia to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine. First, Trump said Russia would face tariffs “at about 100%” if it did not agree to a peace deal in the next 50 days, adding that he would impose secondary sanctions on countries that buy Russian oil, such as China, India, Brazil, and Turkey. Second, he outlined a plan for countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to purchase weapons from the United State...
Jul 15, 2025•28 min
On Thursday, federal immigration authorities said they arrested 319 people suspected of being in the country illegally in raids carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection at two licensed cannabis farms in California. Law enforcement officers also found 10 children in the country illegally during the raids and arrested four United States citizens for allegedly assaulting or resisting officers, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Separa...
Jul 14, 2025•30 min
Isaac, Ari, and Kmele talk a lot about Jeffrey Epstein and the Grok/ai chat bot meltdown. Then the guys play a fun population game that they surprisingly do well on. And, as always, the Airing of Grievances and our mutual frustration with ticks! 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 subscript...
Jul 13, 2025•1 hr 31 min
So today, I’d like to tackle five things I think I’ve gotten wrong about President Donald Trump’s administration through the first six months of his second term. Of course, the book isn’t closed on all these stories, and I remain open to having my mind changed again in the future. 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 subscribe to...
Jul 11, 2025•11 min
On Saturday, Elon Musk announced his intention to create a new political party, called the “America Party.” The announcement follows Musk’s public fallout with President Donald Trump over Musk’s exit from the administration and spending provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill enacted on Friday. While the America Party is not yet an official political entity, Musk says that he hopes to “crack the uniparty system” and represent “the 80% in the middle” in the United States. Ad-free podcasts are he...
Jul 10, 2025•31 min
On Monday night, the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a joint memo with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) affirming prior findings in the investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The memo concludes that materials related to the Epstein case prove that he had committed suicide in 2019, that Epstein did not have a “client list,” and that no other parties were materially implicated as a result of the government’s investigation. Additionally, the memo stated that the fe...
Jul 09, 2025•30 min
Today we are going to be releasing an interview we did with Nick Troiano, who's coming back on the podcast for the second time. Nick is the Executive Director of Unite America, an organization trying to spread election reform all across the United States. We thought this interview was timely because we just had a very impactful mayoral race in New York City that was determined by rank choice voting. This interview was recorded back in April so we didn't get his perspective on Zohran Mamdani and ...
Jul 09, 2025•37 min
On June 27, the Supreme Court voted 6–3 to uphold a Texas law requiring pornography websites to verify the age of their visitors. The law, HB 1181 , compels sites that contain more than one-third “sexual material harmful to minors” to use “reasonable age verification methods” (such as government identification or other personal documents) to determine whether users are over the age of 18. The challengers argued the law violates the First Amendment by creating an unfair free-speech burden on adul...
Jul 08, 2025•27 min
On Friday, flash flooding caused catastrophic damage in Texas Hill Country, a region of Central and South Texas, killing at least 89 people. As of Monday morning, at least 41 people are still missing, and rescue operations remain underway. The majority of the fatalities occurred in Kerr County, where 75 deaths have been reported. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said that the Guadalupe River rose about 26 feet in 45 minutes Friday morning, and the city of Kerrville said the river reached its second-hi...
Jul 07, 2025•30 min
Isaac shares his love for America. 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 Jon Lall. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75. Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Kendall White, Bailey Saul, and Audrey Moorehead. Hosted on Acast. See aca...
Jul 03, 2025•11 min
On Tuesday, following a marathon all-night voting session , the Republicans’ taxation and spending bill passed the Senate 51–50 on a tie-breaking vote from Vice President JD Vance. Republican Senators Rand Paul (KY), Thom Tillis (NC), and Susan Collins (ME) joined every Democratic senator in voting no; all other Republican senators voted yes. The bill — known as the One Big, Beautiful Bill (or OBBB) — originally passed the House 215–214 on May 22, but due to changes in the Senate, it now require...
Jul 02, 2025•36 min
On Friday June 27th, Tangle's newest member, Editor-at-large Kmele Foster released his first written piece. Kmele’s essay tackles America’s 2020 racial reckoning and describes his philosophy about the country’s racial movements. It's a thought provoking, vulnerable, and engaging piece that has invited a lot of comments, questions, and feedback. Many people asked us to make a podcast version of his piece and Kmele was graciously willing to record it. You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here o...
Jul 02, 2025•35 min
