Dear readers,
I just wanted to write to you briefly to say Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas if you celebrated, and have a great New Year. As a reminder: the Tangle team is off this week and I encourage you to spend some time away from the news and politics too. It's good to take a break.
Most newsletters and media companies send "Happy holidays" messages that are actually disguised as sales pitches ("Merry Christmas, buy this!"). That's not what we're about. I really just wanted to come here to say thank you — and to genuinely wish you a happy, healthy and peaceful new year.
My goal when I started this project was to create the most trusted politics newsletter on the planet. My idea for doing this was simple: Unambiguously and accurately present the facts of the story, then arguments from the right, left and center, and then give you my analysis. All while making sure it’s clear when you’re getting my opinion versus facts or the opinions of others. I wanted to build something transparent, where I regularly shared reader criticisms, tracked corrections, and posted them at the top of newsletters (rather than hidden in a footnote or on the back page).
I had no idea how well it would work or how it would be received.
And now we've done all that, and much more. In 2021 we launched a podcast, built a new website, sold some merchandise, moved off of Substack, and scored major shoutouts in The Hustle, The New York Times, Lucie's List and more. In the last couple weeks of 2021, we broke 30,000 newsletter subscribers, I got Covid-19, I interviewed Andrew Yang, and we published our first sponsored podcast. Eventful stuff!
So as we head into 2022, I just wanted to say thank you again, for trusting us, for spreading the word, for subscribing, and for telling me when I screw up and when you think I nail it. This newsletter is my dream come true. I'm so grateful that it's mine — and that it's turning into what it's turning into. And we've got a lot more coming, so stay tuned!
Thank you.
With gratitude and wishes for a happy new year,
Isaac & the Tangle team
