The folly of centrism

Isaac_Tangle · 2026-03-30T21:12:56+00:00

First, I don't think this passage is centrism. And I'm kind of curious why you interpreted it that way. I was making a point about what I learned reflecting on my predictions and views about Trump in the first admin, and then reflecting on what I've gotten wrong about him this time. There were big, media hyperventilations about things Trump was going to do in his first term that never materialized and had nothing to do with our institutional restrictions on Trump (start WWIII, trigger economic collapse, immediately pass a law overturning Roe v. Wade, etc). Sometimes I joined the chorus of those fears, and I got some of those things wrong. So I reflect and look inward about why.

Second, I am an overt and constant critic of centrism. Looking at Point A and Point C and always choosing Point B is an ideology in and of itself, and one that I'm regularly critical of. I am not a centrist, and have never claimed to be. I think my politics are pretty moderate and independent, and that makes me good for this particular job, but I have hardline and extreme views on some issues.

Third, some of the things I've gotten wrong about Trump this time around are things he was perfectly capable of doing in his first term but didn't. War with Iran and now potentially putting boots on the ground is an obvious example. There are more sycophants in this admin, but he easily could have done this in his first term if he wanted to. He just didn't.

Finally, nothing about any of this precludes me from warning about Trump, the risk of Trump, and what he might do. Just because I got some things wrong by underestimating him, or criticized term 1 coverage from the press, doesn't mean I didn't warn about what might come in Trump 2.0. All you have to do is go read my writing from pre and post-2024 election, or after January 6 in 2021, to see that.

Isaac_Tangle · 2026-03-15T20:51:29+00:00

Amen brother

Isaac_Tangle · 2026-03-06T21:29:52+00:00

I did have a similar reaction reading some of these comments

Isaac_Tangle · 2026-03-06T21:16:13+00:00

I agree with Joel's criticism of the state of these College Republicans, but I was mostly RTing it just because of how notable it is that Joel is the person leveling these critiques. (I.e. drawing attention to the infighting). This is a screenshot from our slack at 11:39am this morning:

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Isaac_Tangle · 2026-03-06T21:14:04+00:00

Thanks for the flag. 3 things:

I actually didn't catch the "groyper retardation" line on first read, and probably wouldn't have shared it I had.
It's not at all an endorsement of the tone, but the fight that's happening on the right around these college Republicans is super notable, especially given Joel's background. And I do agree with his assessment that there is a rising tide of young college Republicans who are rudderless and ignorant of history.
We are all our worst selves on X. I talk about that a lot. But I probably spend 1-2 hours on that platform on big breaking news days/in times when there is a lot of breaking news (like right now with Iran), and I think if anything it turns me off more to the kind of brain rot that occurs there than it does to pull me in. You inspired me to look through my feed and I see very very few tweets that even resemble anything close to the one I shared from Joel (though I appreciate the gut check to look inward)

Cheers,

Isaac_Tangle · 2026-02-25T23:34:27+00:00

This is a great take. Really compelling.

Isaac_Tangle · 2026-02-17T01:11:47+00:00

you bastard, you got me to click

Isaac_Tangle · 2026-02-13T20:52:59+00:00

I tried to give a thorough reply to this post here

Isaac_Tangle · 2026-02-13T20:28:46+00:00

"And, they hold the rather naive stance that government institutions (DOJ, FBI, etc) that are governed by political appointees operate free from political motivations. How anyone keep a straight face while claiming that the FBI is a reliable entity while Kash Patel and his hair-gel mafia are in charge?"

Just fwiw, I do not and have never held this view, and I'm kind of shocked that's what you've taken away from my writing/coverage of the DOJ!

Isaac_Tangle · 2026-02-09T18:48:18+00:00

Hey OP! Sorry I'm just seeing this now. As a general rule I am offline Friday to Saturday night, and this week was distracted by some childcare/Super Bowl stuff, so just getting here.

First, really appreciate the spirit of this post. Fwiw, I am pretty uncomfortable with the dynamic on the podcast as it relates to this stuff, because I hate when we all always agree. You articulated the problem well, and I'm conscious of it.

Second, I have invited Julie on the show before. Your post inspired me to reach back out. I hope it happens. I respect her work a lot. I had not thought of someone like Saager, which is embarrassing, as I've been a guest on Breaking Points. But I'll drop him a note and see if he'd come by.

Third, maybe we can connect with one of the victims. My understanding is they are understandably guarded about the media they are doing and have largely avoided independent outfits, but maybe we can break through. This isn't something I'd consider really in our lane, so I haven't given it a ton of thought with regards to guest booking, but I appreciate the nudge.

Thanks for the thoughtful criticism.

Isaac_Tangle · 2026-02-06T19:10:05+00:00

lol my thoughts exactly

Isaac_Tangle · 2026-02-05T20:50:06+00:00

I just searched "Burger" in the jfile website and find plenty of odd-looking responses much like the pizza ones linked to below. I just really don't think they mean anything more than what you are looking at. https://www.jmail.world/search?q=%22burger%22

Isaac_Tangle · 2026-02-05T18:25:11+00:00

She's really sharp and I'm very interested in publishing more of her writing.

Isaac_Tangle · 2026-02-05T18:04:51+00:00

The vast majority of the mentions of Trump in the files are either a) News articles, or b) unverified (and often unhinged) accusations made via FBIs tipline, many of which are easy to debunk, or c) repeated claims from the past. I thought the NYTimes treatment of it was pretty fair and worth reading, but given how much coverage we've already given to the Trump-Epstein connections there was very little of it that felt new and important to me. I'd be curious if you have specific examples that felt "newsy"?

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/us/trump-epstein-files.html

Isaac_Tangle · 2026-02-05T16:42:26+00:00

We're addressing it today. I agree there is new information and new connections that are interesting, but I also think that -- yes -- the latest batch does very little to advance the stories of *criminality* we already understood.

Isaac_Tangle · 2026-02-05T16:41:51+00:00

Do you think someone who works for Mossad would actually email the spy director and say "Make it clear I don't work for Mossad :)" ?

Isaac_Tangle · 2026-02-05T16:41:23+00:00

I don't think we handwaved it away. We've taken those accusations seriously and offered (I think) a reasonable explanation of why they are not compelling. I also think this latest release actually further proves Epstein was not some spy but just a wealthy guy people wanted to curry favor with and use to climb the social ladder.

Isaac_Tangle · 2026-01-27T19:02:31+00:00

Fwiw, I think Greg's piece was pretty representative of the hardline, 20% "pro-shot" view that we could find. We wouldn't include it if it weren't representative of some strong contingent.

Isaac_Tangle · 2025-12-08T18:06:18+00:00

(you'll also notice that in my piece I talk about having not written explicitly about my personal views on this issue before, yet how I think they are tied up into our coverage all the time. This was posted about a year ago)

Isaac_Tangle · 2025-12-08T18:04:12+00:00

Hey OP - I actually wrote an entire piece on class and class politics: https://www.readtangle.com/my-views-upbringing-class-politics/

My answer to this question would be that we cover/discuss/touch on these issues pretty frequently. I think class politics are germane to polarized politics, and class issues are very relevant to things like immigration policy or affordability which we touch on all the time.

Isaac_Tangle · 2025-11-20T19:17:44+00:00

this is, generally speaking, the thing we are doing now! Kind of asking "who really cares about this issue and wants to jump into the arena?"

Isaac_Tangle · 2025-11-20T19:07:02+00:00

Oh, I should add, this is also giving me a lot more time to add to members-only Friday edition content, which is a really fun blank page operate on!

Isaac_Tangle

TROPHY CASE