The Sunday — August 30

This is the Tangle Sunday Edition, a brief roundup of our independent politics coverage plus some extra features for your Sunday morning reading.

Editor’s Note: Last week, we ran a reader essay critical of the Sydney chapter of Chabad (and the organization at large) that included several large claims we could not verify. After further inquiry into some of these claims, we discovered that a previous version of the article had already been published online without our knowledge. Due to these concerns, we've made the decision to pull the piece from our website and archives. We did not come to this decision lightly, and we apologize for the oversights in our process.

What the left is doodling.

What the right is doodling.

Suspension of the Rules.

Is decency back? In this week’s Suspension of the Rules, Isaac, Ari, and Kmele discuss a fascinating gubernatorial candidate in Iowa and an interesting couple of moments from a Fox News anchor before Ari gets canceled in a highly aggrieved grievances section. Check it out here:

Monday, August 24.

New tariffs on Canada. On Saturday, August 22, the United States imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion of Canadian goods, including lumber, dairy products, clothing, and alcohol. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that Canada would match the U.S. tariffs “dollar for dollar,” with retaliatory duties set to begin on September 8. Carney said the duties would target U.S. “steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics.” On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that the U.S. would increase tariffs on “all Cars, Trucks, both large and small, Automotive Parts, and Steel” to 50% on January 1, 2027.

Our take: “President Trump is far from done with tariffs, or with Canada. Past administrations’ civil approach to trade negotiations hasn’t necessarily been more effective, but Trump’s bombastic approach is worse. I expect these tariffs to cause the U.S.–Canada relationship to sink lower.”

Reader Survey:

Tuesday, August 25.

The national debt. On Tuesday, August 18, the Treasury Department announced that the debt held by the U.S. government surpassed $40 trillion, a record high. The national debt has more than doubled since 2017, and it increased from $39 trillion to $40 trillion in roughly the past five months. In response to the latest milestone, lawmakers from both parties called for new initiatives to reduce the debt.

Our take: “The national debt is driven by popular programs that politicians are unwilling to touch. Allocated spending is only part of the problem — revenue, emergency packages, and an aging population are all contributors. The $40 trillion number is scary, but we’re not past the point of no return — yet.”

Reader Survey:

Wednesday, August 26.

The Supreme Court’s latest mail-in voting decision. On Monday, August 24, the Supreme Court stayed a federal injunction on President Donald Trump’s executive order requiring the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to change its rules for mail-in ballots. The Court’s unsigned opinion did not address the legality of the executive order; instead, the Court found that the states challenging it lacked standing to do so. The three Democratic-appointed justices dissented. In compliance with President Trump’s order, on August 21, USPS published a finalized rule specifying it would not deliver mail ballots in states that do not share voter data with it.

Our take: “Some parts of the order are benign, but the attempt to restrict USPS ballot delivery is alarming. This ruling doesn’t greenlight the executive order, but I disagree with the Court’s finding that the plaintiffs lacked standing. Whatever this order’s fate, President Trump is plainly trying to reduce mail-in voting to gain advantages in the election.”

Reader Survey:

Thursday, August 27.

The Meta settlement. On Wednesday, August 26, Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Threads, reached a settlement with a group of state attorneys general to pay up to $16.7 billion to resolve a case over alleged harms to children caused by its social media apps. The company also agreed to implement safeguards designed to mitigate excessive use of Facebook and Instagram by minors.

Our take: “I see this settlement as unambiguously good. Meta’s payout is much less important than its agreed-to platform changes. Furthermore, we achieved this result without trampling on open-internet principles.”

Reader Survey:

Friday, August 28.

In this week’s members-only Friday edition, Tangle’s Associate Editor Carina Pacheco makes her full-length debut with an essay arguing that we should bring back shame and resist “normalization” culture. You can read Carina’s essay here.

What just happened.

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

On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America.” Canadian officials said they will not recognize the new name. (The order)
On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Federal Aviation Administration is moving to fire two air-traffic controllers after determining they left work one hour before their shift was scheduled to end on the day in March that an Air Canada regional jet crashed into a firetruck at LaGuardia Airport, killing the aircraft pilots. (The report)
On Thursday, a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration illegally labeled artificial intelligence developer Anthropic a supply chain risk earlier this year, finding the move was a First Amendment violation. A second lawsuit challenging the designation in a Washington, D.C. court is still in progress. (The ruling)
On Thursday, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of President Trump’s executive order on mail-in ballots for 14 days while a challenge to the action proceeds. (The block)
As of Saturday, 675 people have died from sudden flash flooding in Nepal, and another 2,400 are missing. Scientists have said that the flooding was caused by a sudden break in a glacial collapse. (The latest)

Reader essay.

The I-75/24 Split in Chattanooga, Tennessee, shortly after initial construction was completed | Tennessee State Library and Archives, Wikipedia

After reading an article inspired by America’s 250th birthday and Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” Tangle reader Rose Williams was on a journey — for stories of the quintessential American journey. In today’s reader essay, Rose sets out to answer the question of “who is America’s Homer” by inspecting one particularly surprising selection.