Dec 28, 2022

Our best and worst stuff of 2022

Looking back on this wild year.

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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Today's read: 3 minutes.

I hope you are enjoying the holidays. As I mentioned last week, we are off from our normally scheduled newsletter until January 9th. So, today, I'm going to send you some of our best, worst, and most controversial content from 2022.

A few reminders first:

— If you haven't yet, please go fill out our end of year questionnaire. This is a great chance for you to help shape the future of Tangle, tell us what you want more and less of, and let us know how we're doing. 2,709 people have taken it already, so don't let your voice go unheard!

We've got reader interviews coming next week. In December, I tried an experiment: I sat down with five randomly selected Tangle readers and interviewed them about their lives. I will begin releasing those interviews as podcasts on Monday. We'll send a newsletter to remind you, but in the meantime, you can follow along by keeping an eye on our podcast.

Enjoy your break. Anytime I take a break from the news I encourage our readers to as well. I've gotten a lot of time with family, by the fire, eating, and watching football. And it turns out that is a really nice way to spend your days off!

With that out of the way... here are some very unscientifically crafted superlatives from 2022, all based on reader feedback, surveys, social media reactions, and some personal hindsight.


Our most loved edition of Tangle: "A note about my wife" (paywall), in which I left the typical Tangle format and wrote something very personal.

Our most shared post: Yes, you should vote.

Our most controversial post: Maybe we should forgive Herschel Walker's past (paywall).

My favorite interview: The Myth of Left and Right with Hyrum Lewis.

The most difficult post to write: We are broken, after the Uvalde shooting.

The post that angered the most people on the left: Joe Rogan and Spotify.

The post that angered the most people on the right: Florida's Parental Rights bill.

The post I'm proudest of: Your criticism, my response about Florida's Parental Rights in Education bill.

The five posts that received the most bipartisan praise:

Our most-read story of the year: An honest look at 2,000 Mules, the new stolen election story.

Our most-read story on Ukraine: Don't lose the plot.

The post that got the most feedback: Trans swimmer Lia Thomas.

The post that should have gotten more attention than it did: Journalistic malpractice at The New York Times.

The newsletter I wish I could rewrite: California's election results.

And, finally... the post that took the most work to publish: Should we embrace nuclear energy? (paywall)

It was an awesome year.

This email is a great representation of our 2022 content — so please do us a favor and share it with folks! It’s the best and easiest way for us to keep growing and for readers to see what we’re all about.

Thanks for reading, and I hope clicking around on these holds you over til next week!

Best,

Isaac & the Tangle team

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Isaac Saul
I'm a politics reporter who grew up in Bucks County, PA — one of the most politically divided counties in America. I'm trying to fix the way we consume political news.