Our best stuff from 2024.

I’m Isaac Saul, and this is Tangle: an independent, nonpartisan, subscriber-supported politics newsletter that summarizes the best arguments from across the political spectrum on the news of the day — then “my take.”

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What will you remember from the news in 2024? 

Most obviously, this year’s election was one for the history books: the attempted assassinations of Donald Trump, Joe Biden’s exit from the race, Kamala Harris’s abbreviated campaign, and Republicans capturing both chambers of Congress and the White House. Issues like the economy, immigration, and abortion dominated the election, but other issues — natural disasters, Trump’s legal cases, landmark Supreme Court rulings, and more — also made headlines. Abroad, the war in Ukraine marched grimly toward its third year, conflicts in the Middle East spread across multiple fronts, and instability boiled over in Haiti and Venezuela. 

At Tangle, we covered these issues in standard newsletters, Friday edition deep-dives, exclusive interviews, on-the-ground reporting, and more. As we reach the end of 2024, we wanted to revisit some of our notable moments from the past year — both to recount the most important stories we covered and to share content you might have missed on Tangle’s various platforms. 

To put together these lists, our editorial team individually reviewed our past year of coverage from the newsletter, Sunday edition, podcast and YouTube channel, and each compiled our favorite pieces of content from each platform. We also took into account the reader, listener, and viewer responses to these pieces to help choose which ones resonated most. Then, we put our heads together, trimmed down the lists, and landed on a set of consensus picks. Of course, this is not meant to be a definitive list of what was “most important” in 2024, but simply a highlight reel of Tangle’s most relevant, thought-provoking, and substantive coverage. 

Let us know what you think — we’d love to hear about other stories from the year that caught your attention or stuck with you. And finally, we wish you all a happy new year. 

Our best newsletters.

1. Trump survives an assassination attempt.
2. The UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting. & response to criticisms.
3. The Biden vs. Trump debate.
4. Hurricane Helene and the disaster relief efforts.
5. The Haitian immigrant controversy in Ohio.
6. The Supreme Court’s abortion pill ruling. 
7. The Biden special counsel report.
8. The ICJ's ruling on genocide in Gaza.
9. The Olympic boxing controversy.
10. The Supreme Court reinstates Trump on Colorado's ballot.
11. The violence in Haiti.
12. The NPR controversy.
13. SCOTUS grants Trump partial immunity.
14. Tim Walz's military record.
15. National newspapers decide not to endorse.
16. Trump wins the presidency.
17. The Daniel Penny verdict. 
18. The prisoner swap with Russia.
19. The Arab-American vote in Michigan.
20. The college campus protests.
21. The Tucker Carlson-Vladimir Putin interview.

Our best Friday editions. 

1. Trump vs. Harris on the issues part 1 and part 2, (Paywall)
2. Project 2025, explained. (Paywall)
3. My solutions to the border crisis.
4. Three things I was wrong about. (Paywall)
5. The Zionist case for a ceasefire.
6. Your responses to 'The Zionist case for a ceasefire.' (Paywall) 
7. The best argument that I'm wrong about Israel. (Paywall)
8. 24 thoughts on Joe Biden dropping out.
9. How dangerous is porn, really? (Paywall)
10. The Tangle team, explained.
11. Elon Musk is wrong about illegal voting. (Paywall)
12. Protesters aren't always right.
13. A closer look at the Secret Service. (Paywall)
14. Is crime getting better or worse?
15. 28 thoughts on the Democratic National Convention.
16. Yes, you should vote. 

Our best podcast episodes. 

1. Sunday Podcast: Isaac, Ari, and Jon talk about birthright citizenship and immigration. (Paywall)
2. Sunday Podcast: Isaac and Ari talk about their upbringings in eastern and western Pennsylvania. (Paywall)
3. Sunday Podcast: Isaac and Ari draft a new Congress.
4. The Undecideds - Episode 1 - Meet Our Voters.
5. The Undecideds - Episode 6 - 30 Days.
6. The Undecideds - Episode 8 - The Decision.
7. Valentine's Day Special: Phoebe returns.

Our best interviews. 

1. Isaac’s conversation with Bill O'Reilly.
2. Haviv Gur on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
3. Isaac’s conversation with former Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO).
4. Yousef Munayyer on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
5. Ken Block on the 2024 election.
6. Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) on the 2024 election.
7. Will’s interview with former Ambassador John Sullivan.
8. Alon Gat on the October 7 attacks.

Our best YouTube videos. 

1. Voter fraud in Bucks County, PA — what you really need to know.
2. How information is weaponized in the Israel-Palestine Conflict.
3. Isaac reports from the Penn protests.
4. What people actually think about Juneteenth.
5. Tangle at the DNC: Day 1.

Our best reader essays.

1. From the Border of Identity, Politics, and Medicine.
2. Hurricane Helene in the North Carolina Mountains.
3. Power and Piety.
4. Protests and Purity Tests at Pomona.
5. Seattle Public Schools is Making a Huge Mistake.
6. I didn’t want to catch that boat anyway.
7. The Harsh Realities of Legal Immigration.
8. The good and bad with Tim Walz's record.
9. Terrorphobia.
10. Beyond the Biological Imperative: Having Kids When Everything Sucks.

Our best miscellaneous stuff. 

1. Isaac’s TED talk.
2. Isaac’s essay on his motorcycle trip through Bolivia. 
3. Tangle’s election night livestream.
4. Tangle Live at City Winery in New York City.

Don't forget.

We're still accepting responses for our end-of-year survey. This survey is a way for us to take your feedback constructively to improve Tangle, and also a way to check in on who exactly is reading Tangle today (please only take the survey once — if you've already taken it, no need to do so again). To show my appreciation, and to motivate submissions and feedback, anyone that takes it will be added into a drawing for a $250 gift certificate (so long as you leave your email). We’ll announce the winner when we return in earnest on January 6. You can take the survey here.