Tangle - The Sunday — January 21

This is the Tangle Sunday Edition, a brief roundup of our independent politics coverage plus some extra features for your Sunday morning reading.

What the right is doodling.

Andy Marlette | Creators Syndicate

What the left is doodling.

John Deering | Creators Syndicate

Reader essay.

Digital art by OpenAI.

For the first time — but certainly not the last — a reader wrote in to take a stand on a local issue. Today, an anonymous middle school teacher and Tangle from Seattle, Washington, shares her critique of Seattle Public Schools' recent decision to end the district's advanced learning program in elementary and middle schools. We think the argument is presented in a very “Tangle” way — honestly, and with conviction. By the same token, if you agree or disagree, please add your thoughts to the conversation in an equally honest and respectful way. You can read and comment on the full piece here.

Have a local story you want to write about? Pitch us! Fill out this form or reply to this email, and we’ll get back to you if we’re hooked.

Reader review.

As has become the norm for Tangle readers, those commenting on Isaac’s taking some time away from work to go on a motorcycle trip to Bolivia with his cousins were uniformly supportive. We don’t take the grace and support from our readership for granted — thank you all for your encouragement for Isaac, and for your trust and belief in our staff during his time away. Reader Diantha Currier best expressed the sentiment in a comment on the edition where Isaac made the announcement, the piece on the Houthi rebels:

In my eight decades on this earth I have learned that one must seize unique opportunities when they arise or live with regret. I hated the part where you said you would leave early. For heaven’s sake, you have a great staff and we all might have enjoyed “Dispatches From Bolivia” while you were gone. Life/work balance is good, but if the scale must be tipped, tip it towards life.

Due to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday and Executive Editor Isaac Saul’s travel, our editorial schedule this week was non-standard. Tangle’s main stories this week were the U.S.-led response to the Houthi attacks, Donald Trump's win in Iowa, and our Thursday mailbag edition. For full versions, you can find all of our past coverage in our archive.

Tuesday, January 16.

The Houthi attacks. On January 11, the United States and Britain — with support from Canada, the Netherlands, and Bahrain — bombed more than a dozen Houthi rebel sites across Yemen in retaliation for a series of attacks on commercial ships crossing the Red Sea. On the morning of January 13, the U.S. hit an additional site in Yemen it said was putting ships at risk. The Iran-backed Houthis had disregarded weeks of warnings and continued to attack merchant ships passing through the Red Sea, leading to the strikes.

• From the left. The left was split on the decision to carry out the strikes with many worrying that it could lead to a wider war in the Middle East. In The Guardian, Mohamad Bazzi said “by bombing Yemen, the west risks repeating its own mistakes.”
• From the right. The right was also mixed on the strikes with some saying they were appropriate but improperly carried out in the absence of Congressional approval. In The New York Post, Michael Goodwin wrote “Biden’s handling of the Middle East crisis is just downright dangerous.”
• Our take. “Starting with the obvious: the Houthis aren’t “the good guys,” and what they’re doing isn’t moral. We can criticize acting without Congress, but I think Biden was right to respond. The regional conflict is already here but the U.S. and its allies should tread carefully.”

Wednesday, January 17.

The Iowa caucuses. On January 15, Donald Trump scored a landslide victory in the Iowa caucuses, kicking off the 2024 Republican presidential primary with a big win. Polls closed in Iowa at 7:00 pm CT/8:00 pm ET, and by 8:32 pm ET The New York Times, 538 and ABC News, and Fox News Decision Desk had all declared Donald Trump the winner. The former president began his third presidential campaign by winning 51% of the vote, a record for margin of victory in the Iowa caucuses. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis finished second with 21% of the vote and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley finished third with 19%. Just over 108,000 voters, or 14.4% of the state’s Republicans, turned out to vote. It was the lowest turnout in the Iowa caucuses since 2008. 

• From the right. The right was unsurprised by Trump’s victory, and most think he has all but locked up the nomination. In The Federalist, Jordan Boyd wrote “it’s time to stop pretending there’s a GOP primary.”
• From the left. The left was dismayed by Trump’s strong showing and worried the result will further embolden his extreme rhetoric. In MSNBC, Hayes Brown said “Trump’s Iowa win is the first step on his road to retribution.”
• Our take. “It should come as no surprise that Donald Trump cruised in Iowa. The only drama on the night came from just how early Trump was declared the winner, and in who managed to claim second. Haley v. DeSantis is an informative race for second, and we still don’t know who will be Trump’s running mate — but we know who will be the Republican nominee.”

Thursday, January 18.

A reader mailbag. As we mentioned above, Tangle founder and Executive Editor Isaac Saul was on a trip through Bolivia during the week. We decided to use that small disruption to our daily coverage to catch up on a bunch of reader questions we've been trying to respond to. Isaac and the team worked on these questions together over the last week or two. For that reason, this edition is tough to summarize, so we suggest you view the whole piece in our archive. And if you want to have a question answered in the newsletter, you can reply to this email (it goes straight to the staff inbox) or fill out this form. A partial list of the subjects we covered is below.

• What is the best case for Biden’s presidency? What can the president say he’s accomplished?
• Why haven’t you talked about allegations of sexual violence against Israeli forces?
• Do voters try to pick a winner?
• What happens to immigrants who are denied asylum?
• Are the criticisms of Fani Willis fair?
• At what point is an increasing population a bad thing?

Recommended reading.

Photograph by Tim Gruber taken from the article

One of our favorite authors on housing in the United States is The Atlantic’s resident housing beat writer, Jerusalem Demsas. And once again, Demsas delivered, with an investigation from Minneapolis, Minnesota, into the fissure on the left that is creating an ideological divide. The piece is standard for Jerusalem Demsas, which is to say that it's a phenomenal read.

Most-answered survey.

With only two surveys this week, the one that generated more responses was our poll on the U.S.-led response to the attacks by the Houthi rebels in the Red Sea. 807 readers responded to the poll with 44% saying the response was appropriate, the most of any option. 31% said the response should be much stronger, 20% said it should be a little stronger, 1% said it should be much lighter, and 1% said it should be a little lighter. 3% were unsure or had no opinion. Though the most common answer supported the president’s actions, criticism was also common. “Congress should have approved, not arbitrarily the President,” one respondent said.

On the channels.

YouTube: Due to this week’s schedule disruption, we did not record a new YouTube video.

Podcast: We introduced our first-ever co-hosted podcast last Friday, as Managing Editor Ari Weitzman sat down with Isaac to talk through our self-evaluation of our 2023 writing. Listen here!

Instagram: The most-viewed post we had on our channel this week was our breakdown of the response to the Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.

Tweet of the week.

Rob McElhenney may have picked up an Emmy for Welcome to Wrexham, but it wasn’t all sunny for the Philadelphia fan.

Tangle’s favorites.

Ask the readers.

We asked the readers what they think a better name for the Sunday newsletter would be, giving a few of our favorite options that we’ve received since launching it in December. We used RankedVote to collect the responses, and the results were interesting. The upshot: Most people like Untangled, and a lot of people like The Sunday as it is. We haven’t gotten a chance to discuss the results in-house yet, but we certainly have plenty to think about. You can see the results for yourself here!

Above, we shared the results of one of this week’s two surveys. But the results to our other survey, in which we asked who you think is the most likely to be Donald Trump’s running mate, were perhaps more interesting. Before we cover those results tomorrow, we’re wondering how different they would be if we did the same exercise through ranked choice. We’re giving you the same options, plus a few suggested by readers.

VOTE HERE!

Add your thoughts to our poll by replying to this email or through this form.

Starting with the first letter, add one letter in any position to the preceding line to answer the clue to each line. 

EXAMPLE:

Click here for the answer.

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