Fetterman's stroke threatens Matt and Laura's friendship

After a stroke, Senate candidate John Fetterman of Pennsylvania needs captions to hold a conversation. Matthew Yglesias sees this as a neutral statement of fact and sympathizes with lefty Twitter for lashing out at how NBC promoted a recent interview with the Senate hopeful. Laura McGann disagrees. She wants opinion writers, like Matt, to be better — to stop insulting voters who have legitimate questions, like how a stroke affects the brain. Where the two agree is on why unorthodox candidates, like celebrity TV doctor Mehmet Oz, running against Fetterman in Pennsylvania, or Herschel Walker, a former football star running in Georgia, win in our polarized age.

Om Podcasten

Grid contributor Matthew Yglesias and his longtime editor, Laura McGann, Grid’s executive editor, discuss a take each week that’s gotten under their skin. They peel back the layers of the "bad take” to figure out what it tells us about American politics and policy.