The Sunday — November 9

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.

Monday, November 3.

SNAP benefits. On Saturday, November 1, the ongoing government shutdown caused federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to lapse. The funding gap will delay scheduled payments to many program beneficiaries who use the money to help cover food costs, putting the roughly 42 million people receiving benefits at risk of food insecurity. On Friday, October 31, two federal judges ruled that the government must keep the program at least partially operational using contingency funding and gave the Trump administration until Monday to respond to the order. The administration subsequently said it would use emergency funds to partially fund SNAP in November.

Our take: “Republicans and Democrats might have found the issue they both care about enough to resolve this shutdown. Funding SNAP is vitally important, and not funding it right now may be illegal. Without the government, though, we’ll all need to step up for each other.”

Reader Survey:

Tuesday, November 4.

The key 2025 races. Tuesday was election day in the United States, with voters in cities and states across the country deciding on a host of key elections and ballot measures. Some races, like the New York City mayoral election, were in the national spotlight for months; others, like the Pennsylvania Supreme Court retention elections, flew under the radar but could be nationally impactful for years to come. On Tuesday, we published a special edition exploring these critical elections — sharing a brief overview of each race, two divergent perspectives on it, and a bit of our own analysis.

Reader Survey:

Wednesday, November 5.

The 2025 election results. On Tuesday, November 4, voters cast ballots in the first election cycle since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term. Democrats won the most closely watched races decisively, including Virginia’s and New Jersey’s gubernatorial elections, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court retention vote, and the New York City mayoral election. Separately, several key ballot measures also passed decisively. Californians passed Proposition 50 to approve mid-decade redistricting, Mainers voted down a voter ID ballot measure and approved the creation of a “red flag” law, and Texans amended their state constitution to ban noncitizen voting and codify parental rights.

Our take: “It’s hard to imagine the night going better for Democrats. They won every major race, often by huge margins, which provides some clarity on what their new coalition could look like: A broad group of voters opposed to Trump and focused on affordability. The good news for Republicans in all this is twofold: 1) Zohran Mamdani will be a great new foil. 2) Democrats still don’t have a cohesive strategy going forward.”

Reader Survey:

Thursday, November 6.

The tariffs case before the Supreme Court. On Wednesday, November 5, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the consolidated cases of Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump and Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, Inc., both of which challenged some of the president’s authority to unilaterally issue foreign duties. Trump has justified his broad “reciprocal tariffs” on U.S trading partners by declaring a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which prompted the legal challenges. The court’s decision could set the precedent for presidential authority over trade and the use of emergency powers.

Our take: “I already thought the court would strike down Trump’s tariffs, and now I’m all but certain it will. The court moves so slowly that unraveling the impacts of the existing tariffs will be difficult. The policy has raised more revenue with less inflationary impact than critics predicted, but it was still enacted illegally.”

Reader Survey:

Friday, November 7.

In this week’s Friday edition, Executive Editor Isaac Saul wrote about Tucker Carlson’s interview with Nick Fuentes. While Carlson’s lack of pushback on Fuentes’s controversial, racist beliefs sparked a lot of commentary online, Isaac was interested in something that most commentary has overlooked: Fuentes’s origin story, and the lessons it holds for us. You can read Isaac’s analysis here.

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What just happened.

Here are a few stories that have broken since our last newsletter on Thursday.

• On Thursday, President Donald Trump announced deals with pharmaceutical companies Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly to lower the cost of GLP-1 obesity and diabetes drugs for many Americans, including those on Medicare. (The announcement)
• On Thursday, Sudan's Rapid Support Forces said it had agreed to a proposal put forth by the United States and Arab nations for a humanitarian ceasefire in its war with the Sudanese army. The paramilitary group also indicated it was open to further peace talks. (The latest)
• On Friday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that flight reductions may increase to 15% or 20% in the next week if the government shutdown does not end. (The comments)
• On Friday, Cornell University announced it will pay $60 million — $30 million to the U.S. government and $30 million to supporting agriculture and farming research programs — in order to restore federal research funding and end investigations into alleged civil rights violations. (The agreement)
• On Friday, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson temporarily paused a lower court ruling that had required the Trump administration to fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by Friday. The pause will remain in effect until the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules on the Trump administration’s challenge to the ruling. (The pause)
• On Friday, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) announced she will run for governor of New York, challenging current Gov. Kathy Hochul (D). (The announcement)
• On Saturday, a driver in a black Jeep fired shots at Customs and Border Patrol agents in Chicago, according to the Department of Homeland Security. DHS said the agents were “conducting immigration enforcement operations.” (The incident)

Reader essay.

Johnson City, Tennessee, transplant Isaac Wood describes himself as a typical, Midwestern white man, who faced a unique challenge while working on a cultural history project: creating a narrative podcast telling the stories of members of the region’s black community. In a personal essay, Isaac explores how his work on the podcast showed him how to respectfully and accurately share stories from people of a completely different background from his own.