Trump’s pick for vice president. Over the weekend, former President Donald Trump headlined the Republican National Committee’s spring donor retreat in Florida, an event that doubled as a showcase of Trump’s potential running mates. These attendees — dubbed “special guests” — included Republicans like Sen. Marco Rubio (FL), Sen. Tim Scott (SC), Sen. J.D. Vance (OH), Gov. Doug Burgum (ND), Gov. Kristi Noem (SD), Rep. Elise Stefanik (NY) and Rep. Byron Donalds (FL), among others.  You can...

A global wealth tax. Late last month, G20 ministers from Brazil, Germany, Spain, and South Africa signed a motion and published an opinion piece in The Guardian calling for a global tax of 2% on the world's 3,000 billionaires. The proposal is to raise roughly €250 billion (or $270 billion) a year to fight against global poverty, and has also been backed by the head of the International Monetary Fund. You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, our “Under the Radar” story ⁠here and today’s...

Florida’s ban on lab-grown meat. On Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a bill that bans lab-grown meat in the state, describing the bill as an effort to "save our beef" and protect cattle ranchers. The bill, S.B. 1084, made it unlawful to "manufacture for sale, sell, hold or offer for sale, or distribute cultivated meat."  You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, our “Under the Radar” story ⁠here and today’s “Have a nice day” story ⁠here⁠. You can watch our latest video,...

Isaac and Ari talk about the ongoing protest on college campuses, the value of the electoral college, and Donald Trump's flip-flop on mail-in voting. Plus, in this week's Airing of Grievances, Ari wants more work and the saga of Isaac's W key on his computer comes to an end. You can watch our latest video, Isaac's interview with former Congressman Ken Buck (CO-04) ⁠here⁠. Check the next episode of our new podcast series, The Undecideds. In episode 2, our undecided voters primarily talk...

Reclassifying marijuana. On Tuesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland submitted a proposal for a White House review to reclassify cannabis as a less dangerous controlled substance, moving it from a Schedule I drug to Schedule III.  You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, our “Under the Radar” story ⁠here and today’s “Have a nice day” story ⁠here⁠. You can watch our latest video, Isaac's interview with former Congressman Ken Buck (CO-04) ⁠here⁠. Check the next episode of our new...

Biden's Title IX changes. Earlier this month, the Biden administration released new Title IX rules designed to protect LGBTQ students and reversed a number of Trump-era policies related to how schools can respond to allegations of sexual assault on college campuses or in K-12 schools. You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, our “Under the Radar” story ⁠here and today’s “Have a nice day” story ⁠here⁠. You can watch our latest video, Isaac's interview with former Congressman Ken Buck...

The NPR controversy. On April 9, National Public Radio's longtime business editor Uri Berliner published an essay in The Free Press titled "I've Been at NPR for Over 25 Years. Here's How We Lost America's Trust." Berliner detailed his experience at the network, castigating it for a leftward lurch that has left many of its longtime listeners disenchanted and moving on to other news sources. You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, our “Under the Radar” story ⁠here and today’s “Have a nice...

Trump's immunity case. On Thursday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Trump v. United States. During arguments, the court appeared ready to side at least partially with former President Donald Trump's lawyers, who argued he has absolute immunity from criminal charges for acts taken in his official capacity as president. Reminder: The case stems from Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation into Trump for alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election. As part of his defense against...

Isaac and Ari talk about Isaac’s experience at TED 2024, some advice on how to interact with Ari if you meet him in person, and an introduction to the Tangle Live event at City Winery on April 17th, followed by the recording of the event, in full and uncut. You can watch our latest video, Isaac's interview with former Congressman Ken Buck (CO-04) here. We just released the next episode of our new podcast series, The Undecideds. In episode 2, our undecided voters primarily talk about...

A couple of weeks ago, we sent Tangle News YouTube and podcast editor Jon Lall to the home of former Representative Ken Buck (R-CO). Buck, who recently retired from the House of Representatives, was enjoying his first few days of free time since leaving Congress. Long known as one of the most outspoken members of his party, Buck had been making waves in the news for criticizing the state of Congress, referring to his former colleague Marjorie Taylor Greene as "Moscow Marjorie," and breaking...

The homelessness case before the Supreme Court. During oral arguments on Monday, the Supreme Court seemed divided on City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, a case about local and state restrictions on people camping and sleeping in public places. You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, our “Under the Radar” story ⁠here and today’s “Have a nice day” story ⁠here⁠. Watch our latest YouTube video, an interview with Edwin Raymond. He is a recently retired NYPD lieutenant, civil-rights activist and...

Campus protests. Over the last week, protests on elite college campuses over Israel’s war in Gaza have boiled over, with hundreds of students arrested or suspended, and clashes between protestors and counter-protestors hitting a fever pitch. You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, our “Under the Radar” story ⁠here and today’s “Have a nice day” story ⁠here⁠. Watch our latest YouTube video, an interview with Edwin Raymond. He is a recently retired NYPD lieutenant, civil-rights activist...

FISA reauthorization. On Saturday night, President Biden signed legislation reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the controversial warrantless surveillance program whose renewal had been held up by bipartisan concerns. Minutes after it lapsed at midnight on Friday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced a deal to vote on a package of amendments to the House-passed bill to reauthorize the FISA. The Senate approved the reauthorization...

The House foreign aid and TikTok bills. On Saturday, the House of Representatives passed three separate foreign aid bills for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, totaling $95 billion. The House also passed a bill that will ban TikTok from app stores if ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns it, does not sell the app to a U.S. company and also allows the potential transfer of seized Russian assets to Ukraine. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) helped usher the package across the finish line despite...

House Speaker Mike Johnson. In a closed-door meeting of Republican legislators on Monday, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) announced a new plan for voting on foreign aid that will split the $95 billion foreign aid package passed by the Senate into four different bills. The House would then vote on the bills funding Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan separately, with a fourth bill addressing other Republican priorities and sources of funding for the aid. The move comes in response to pressure...

Every now and again, we have so many reader questions in the backlog that we decide to devote a full edition to address them. Today is one of those days. I love reader mailbag editions because they give us a chance to cover a variety of topics in one newsletter. It can also be fun to answer questions that are a little more personal, or a little outside our standard U.S. politics realm (we love those kinds of questions, so don’t be shy!). In today’s edition, we’ll be tackling a wide range of...

In episode 2, The Undecideds primarily talk about Trump’s legal troubles. How do they feel about his alleged crimes? How would him being convicted - or exonerated - change the way they vote? What about his claims he should have immunity as president? You’ll hear how they consider these major themes of the race, and also what they made of Haley dropping out and Biden’s State of the Union Address. Each episode we’ll focus on a different storyline from the race, and hear how these undecided...

Donald Trump's trial. On Monday, jury selection began in Manhattan for former President Donald Trump's trial for allegedly falsifying business records, commonly referred to as the "hush money" case. The allegations brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg are that Trump orchestrated a scheme to influence the 2016 election by identifying and purchasing negative information about him and suppressing its publication, then covering his tracks by illegally falsifying business records....

Iran's attack on Israel. On Saturday, Iran launched 170 drones, 120 ballistic missiles, and 30 cruise missiles toward Israel. Iran had been promising the attack for two weeks since Israel’s bombing of an Iranian consulate building in Syria that killed seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including two generals. Despite years of Iran's proxies attacking Israel in a wide-reaching shadow war, Iran had never launched a direct attack on Israel until this weekend’s missile...

Isaac and Ari talk about Isaac’s recent trip to Bali, Biden’s new student debt forgiveness plan, a pro-Palestine protest at dinner event for UC Berkeley students, and whether Justice Sotomayor should retire. Plus, Ari finally has a grievance that Isaac agrees with. Watch our latest YouTube video, an interview with Edwin Raymond. He is a recently retired NYPD lieutenant, civil-rights activist and author of the riveting new memoir An Inconvenient Cop: My Fight to Change Policing in America....

The economy. In the last week, the government made two big announcements on the economy. First, on Friday, the Department of Labor reported that the economy added 303,000 jobs in March, though full-time unemployment decreased slightly. The total jobs added far surpassed economists' predictions that roughly 200,000 jobs would be added. Additionally, unemployment held steady at 3.8%, continuing the labor market’s hot hiring streak.  You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, our “Under the...

President Biden's new student loan cancellation plan. On Monday, President Biden unveiled a new plan that could erase some or all of the college loans for up to 30 million borrowers. The plan comes less than a year after the Supreme Court blocked a broader effort that would have forgiven an average of $20,000 for roughly 40 million Americans. Today, around 43 million Americans own about $1.7 trillion in student loan debt, or an average of just over $39,500 per borrower. You can read...

Trump's abortion position. On Monday, former President Donald Trump released a four-minute video announcing his position on abortion. Trump, who teased the announcement over the weekend, appeared to endorse the current state of abortion law, implying it will continue to be left up to the states in the post-Roe era while declining to endorse any national limit on abortion. In March, Trump's campaign floated a national 15-week ban. You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, our “Under the...

The latest on the war in Gaza. This Sunday marked six months since Hamas's attack in Israel on October 7, and the semi-anniversary comes at a major inflection point in the resulting war. In late March, the Biden administration had signed off on billions of dollars of bombs and jet transfers to Israel. But in a tense phone call on Thursday, President Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that future U.S. military support for Israel would depend on the implementation of new steps...