Happy Thanksgiving! And a special convo with Greg Sargent

Also, a holiday offer for free subscribers.

First off, to all our American readers or readers from abroad who happen to be in the States, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a great day filled with delicious eats and surrounded by loved ones.

I am thankful for many things in life — among them the wonderful readers of this newsletter. Though the topics we cover are often heavy, hearing from readers about how much they value the blood, sweat, and tears we sink into bringing you Public Notice five (and oftentimes six) mornings a week makes it all worth it. Working with our amazingly talented group of contributors to put together this newsletter is easily the most fulfilling job I’ve ever had.

If this newsletter is something you’re thankful for but you aren’t yet a paid subscriber, I have an offer for you. I know budgets are tight for many right now, so click the button below to subscribe to PN for the special discounted rate of just $40 a year.

Paid subscriptions come with a range of perks, including full access to everything we publish, but most importantly they help keep Public Notice going strong. Our work is 100 percent reader funded, so without support from paid subscribers this newsletter wouldn’t exist.

But that special offer isn’t the only reason we’re publishing today. If you need a break from family and/or football and want something interesting to read, I’m publishing an interview we recently conducted with Greg Sargent, a fantastic politics writer at the New Republic, about lessons Democrats should carry forward not just from the elections earlier this month but also from a major new report written by former Biden administration officials about how their messaging sometimes fell short.

“The way to break through into MAGA information spaces is with big, controversial fights that draw sharp contrasts and make a lot of noise and force people to pay attention to what’s going on,” Sargent told us. “And so I was really heartened to see a number of top Biden administration officials admit that one of their failures was not getting out there and driving conflict and controversy to the degree the Democratic Party needs to do from now on.”

A transcript of the conversation with Sargent, lightly edited for clarity follows. I hope you enjoy it, and if you’re not already a paid subscriber, I hope you’ll consider becoming one. In any event, thank you for reading and for being a part of the Public Notice community. Whether today is Thanksgiving for you or just another Thursday, cheers, and here’s to a great holiday season.