diff --git a/Tusker/Views/ContentTextView.swift b/Tusker/Views/ContentTextView.swift
index 77e2fd7d..69bc5c64 100644
--- a/Tusker/Views/ContentTextView.swift
+++ b/Tusker/Views/ContentTextView.swift
@@ -78,6 +78,11 @@ class ContentTextView: LinkTextView, BaseEmojiLabel {
         mutAttrString.trimTrailingCharactersInSet(.whitespacesAndNewlines)
         mutAttrString.collapseWhitespace()
         
+        let style = NSMutableParagraphStyle()
+        // 2 points is enough that it doesn't make things look weirdly spaced out, but leaves a slight gap when there are multiple lines of emojis
+        style.lineSpacing = 2
+        mutAttrString.addAttribute(.paragraphStyle, value: style, range: mutAttrString.fullRange)
+        
         self.attributedText = mutAttrString
     }
     
@@ -99,7 +104,9 @@ class ContentTextView: LinkTextView, BaseEmojiLabel {
             
             switch node.tagName() {
             case "br":
-                attributed.append(NSAttributedString(string: "\n"))
+                // need to specify defaultFont here b/c otherwise it uses the default 12pt Helvetica which
+                // screws up its determination of the line height making multiple lines of emojis squash together
+                attributed.append(NSAttributedString(string: "\n", attributes: [.font: defaultFont]))
             case "a":
                 if let link = try? node.attr("href"),
                    let webURL = WebURL(link),
@@ -107,7 +114,7 @@ class ContentTextView: LinkTextView, BaseEmojiLabel {
                     attributed.addAttribute(.link, value: url, range: attributed.fullRange)
                 }
             case "p":
-                attributed.append(NSAttributedString(string: "\n\n"))
+                attributed.append(NSAttributedString(string: "\n\n", attributes: [.font: defaultFont]))
             case "em", "i":
                 let currentFont: UIFont
                 if attributed.length == 0 {
@@ -129,11 +136,11 @@ class ContentTextView: LinkTextView, BaseEmojiLabel {
             case "code":
                 attributed.addAttribute(.font, value: UIFont.monospacedSystemFont(ofSize: defaultFont.pointSize, weight: .regular), range: attributed.fullRange)
             case "pre":
+                attributed.append(NSAttributedString(string: "\n\n"))
                 attributed.addAttribute(.font, value: UIFont.monospacedSystemFont(ofSize: defaultFont.pointSize, weight: .regular), range: attributed.fullRange)
-                attributed.append(NSAttributedString(string: "\n\n"))
             case "ol", "ul":
-                attributed.trimLeadingCharactersInSet(.whitespacesAndNewlines)
                 attributed.append(NSAttributedString(string: "\n\n"))
+                attributed.trimLeadingCharactersInSet(.whitespacesAndNewlines)
             case "li":
                 let parentEl = node.parent()!
                 let parentTag = parentEl.tagName()
@@ -143,12 +150,12 @@ class ContentTextView: LinkTextView, BaseEmojiLabel {
                     // we use the monospace digit font so that the periods of all the list items line up
                     bullet = NSAttributedString(string: "\(index + 1).\t", attributes: [.font: UIFont.monospacedDigitSystemFont(ofSize: defaultFont.pointSize, weight: .regular)])
                 } else if parentTag == "ul" {
-                    bullet = NSAttributedString(string: "\u{2022}\t")
+                    bullet = NSAttributedString(string: "\u{2022}\t", attributes: [.font: defaultFont])
                 } else {
                     bullet = NSAttributedString()
                 }
                 attributed.insert(bullet, at: 0)
-                attributed.append(NSAttributedString(string: "\n"))
+                attributed.append(NSAttributedString(string: "\n", attributes: [.font: defaultFont]))
             default:
                 break
             }