The Sunday — April 12

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 left is doodling.

What the right is doodling.

Suspension of the Rules.

On this week’s episode, Isaac, Ari, and Kmele talked about the recent Iran ceasefire — and whether it’s really a ceasefire at all — before nerding out over the Artemis II mission. Plus, when are abandoned plants yours? You can check that out here!

Monday, April 6.

Tangle did not release a newsletter in observance of Easter Monday.

Tuesday, April 7.

Trump’s Strait of Hormuz deadline. In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, April 5, President Donald Trump appeared to set a deadline of 8:00 PM ET on Tuesday, April 7, for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic. In a preceding post, the president suggested that he will authorize strikes on civilian energy and transportation infrastructure if the demand is not met, writing, “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.” In a Wall Street Journal interview later on April 5, Trump said Iran would “lose every power plant and every other plant they have in the whole country” if they block the strait beyond April 7. 

Our take: “Trump seems to have backed himself into a corner, and I worry for what comes next in Iran. His rhetoric has gotten noticeably more unhinged this past week. Polling doesn’t seem to matter, the president is surrounded by sycophants, and the recent developments are extremely concerning.”

Reader Survey:

Wednesday, April 8.

Trump’s 2027 budget. Two weeks ago, the White House released its budget proposal for fiscal year 2027, featuring an increase of 42% in defense spending to $1.5 trillion and a 10% decrease in non-defense spending to $660 billion. Specifically, the White House requested the budget to increase the capacity of the Navy, give pay raises to troops, resupply munitions, invest in critical resources, and build a “Golden Dome” missile defense system. The administration characterized the non-defense spending it had identified to cut as part of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and “woke programs” that drive government waste. 

Our take: “The White House is trying to frame this as fiscal responsibility, but it’s really a massive spending increase. Our current situation justifies some kind of increase in certain military spending. The specifics for the request are unknown, but the source of funding is wishful thinking and it would continue our runaway federal deficits.”

Reader Survey:

Thursday, April 9.

The two-week ceasefire in Iran. On Tuesday, April 7, President Donald Trump announced the U.S. had agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran, conditional on the Strait of Hormuz fully reopening to commercial shipping. President Trump announced the deal less than two hours before his 8:00 PM ET deadline for Iran to lift its restrictions on the strait or face strikes on civilian infrastructure. Trump also said that the U.S. received a 10-point peace plan from Iran he believed to be “a workable basis on which to negotiate.”

Our take: “When you sort through the confusion, the messaging over the ceasefire differs greatly from the reality. Iran’s 10-point plan is no basis for negotiations — I don’t even think we really have a ceasefire. Trump has painted himself into a corner, and there’s no end to this war in sight.”

Reader Survey:

Friday, April 10.

We opened up the reader mailbag in this week’s Friday edition, as Tte editorial team answered your questions on topics ranging from the Supreme Court to artificial intelligence.

You can read our answers here.

Further reading.

We’ve covered relations with Iran, presidential budget proposals, and the global oil supply before. Plus, check out our last reader mailbag from November. Take a look at our past coverage below:

• In September 2023, we wrote about President Biden’s prisoner swap and oil deal with Iran.
• In March 2022, we covered Biden’s 2023 budget proposal.
• In April 2020, Isaac wrote about oil wars rocking the economy.
• In November 2025, our editorial team answered your questions on topics like the effect of Dobbs, immigrant labor, and how Tangle might operate in Nazi Germany in a paywalled Friday edition.

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What just happened.

Here’s a rundown of the major stories that have broken since our newsletter on Thursday.

• On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized direct negotiations with Lebanon amid Israel’s large-scale bombing campaign. However, Netanyahu also said that Israel would continue strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. (The update) On Friday, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Iran will not take part in ceasefire negotiations with the United States unless Israel’s bombing campaign in Lebanon ceases. (The demand)
• On Thursday, First Lady Melania Trump gave a statement to reporters pushing back on what she called false claims about her connections to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “I have never had any knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of his victims,” First Lady Trump said. It was not immediately clear what prompted the remarks. (The comments)
• On Thursday, President Donald Trump called on Iran to cease charging tolls for passage through the Strait of Hormuz. On Saturday, U.S. Navy ships crossed the strait to begin efforts to locate and remove mines that Iran had placed in the waterway. (The latest)
• On Thursday, the Commerce Department revised its previous estimate of U.S. gross domestic product in Q4 2025, finding that the economy grew 0.5% in the quarter, slower than the previous estimate of 0.7% growth. (The revision)
• On Friday, the Labor Department reported that the consumer-price index rose 3.3% on an annual basis in March, an increase from February’s gain of 2.4%. Energy prices rose 12.5% from a year earlier, potentially highlighting the initial impact of disruptions to global energy markets from the war in Iran. (The report)
• On Friday, The San Francisco Chronicle and CNN published allegations of sexual misconduct and assault against U.S. representative and California gubernatorial candidate Eric Swalwell. Swalwell has denied the accusations, which came from four different women. (The allegations)
• On Friday, the four Artemis II astronauts returned to earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean at 5:07 PM PT. The astronauts were extracted from the Orion spacecraft and flown by helicopter to a waiting Navy ship, concluding their 10-day journey around the Moon. (The splashdown)

Reader essay.

The Pixies, Sleater Kinney, Radiohead, Belle and Sebastien, Sufjan Stevens, The Strokes, Spoon, Foster the People, Fleet Foxes, Animal Collective… the indie era arguably spanned a long time, arguably peaked in different years, and is inarguably dead. That’s what indie scene vet and pseudonymous essayist, Jay Edgar, argues. And while the argument “what was peak indie” has been had, Jay is asking a different question: Who is the indie antichrist? Using some home-rolled quantitative measures and vibing with Claude, Jay believes he has a definitive answer.